[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Tuesday afternoon NASCAR placed Phoenix Racing driver Kurt Busch $50,000 and placed on probation until July 25th for driving through Ryan Newman’s pit stall recklessly and almost hitting crew members Saturday night at Darlington.
Along with Busch, Craig Strickler, Phoenix Racing crew member, was placed on probation until Dec. 31 and fined $5,000 for cameraman interference.
Newman’s gasman, Andrew Rueger, was placed on probation until June 27th and fined $5,000 for not obeying a NASCAR official. Placed on probation, was crew chief Tony Gibson for a rule stating a crew chief is responsible for team members.
Tony Gibson had this to say about the incident, “Its dangerous enough doing normal pit stops, when you come ripping through someone’s pit stop like that, Busch could have taken out five or six guys plus the officials, pretty easy. I don’t know how someone didn’t get run over. It’s a miracle no one got hit.”
After the incident and fine, Newman was willing to talk but Busch was not.
“It’s easy to say that Kurt blew a fuse again. I’m not sure why he did it and tried to run over our guys and NASCAR officials. And nobody is. I think the chemical imbalance (presumably Kurt Busch’s anger management issues) speaks for itself. Kurt drilled me in pit lane and said he was taking his helmet off, and he didn’t see where he was going. I’m pretty sure there were 42 other guys that are taking their helmets off and doing whatever for the last 10 years, and that’s the first time that’s happened to me.”
This wasn’t the first time Busch has been penalized for his temper. In November, after is his profanity- laced tirade toward a reporter and his obscene gesture he made after his transmission broke down, Busch was fined $50,000 and fired by Penske Racing shortly afterward. Busch did say that he was working with a sports psychologist back in December.
“I need to be a better person on the radio, to the team, as a leader,” he said. “It’s personal issue, of course, and working with a sports psychologist, I’ve gotten obviously a small grasp, but there’s obviously bigger things I need to accomplish and things cant happen overnight.”
Newman spews crap again.