Kurt Busch, who was suspended by NASCAR on Feb. 20, will actively pursue reinstatement. He agreed to NASCAR’s terms and conditions last Friday to begin the process.
Busch was indefinitely suspended after Kent County (Del.) Family Court Commissioner David Jones issued a protective order against Busch that concluded that Busch “more likely than not” committed an act of domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, last September.
The suspension came after it was determined that Busch was in violation of NASCAR rules:
Section 12.1.a: Actions detrimental to stock car racing.
Section 12.8: Behavior Penalty
David Higdon, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications vice president, said Monday morning that the reinstatement program is “very much tailored to each individual case,” but did not divulge the specific requirements that NASCAR has set forth for Busch. He also stated that the sanctioning body consulted with outside experts to formulate a set of terms and conditions that Busch must meet and added that there was not a specified date for his potential return to NASCAR Sprint Cup competition.
“There are certain things that need to happen within a certain period of time, but there’s no timetable in terms of a return perspective,” Higdon explained. ”Secondly, before we put this in place when we worked with the experts on it, they were very adamant about saying the most important thing if you pursue any type of action in this area that you need to have a return-back program. That was why this was atop of our list as soon as the penalty was assessed; our next course of action was to clearly get in front of him the terms and conditions for the reinstatement of the license.”
Joe Custer, executive vice president at Stewart-Haas Racing, issued a statement, saying, “We understand Kurt Busch has begun the process for reinstatement as a NASCAR member. NASCAR has laid out its expectations for Kurt, and while there is no timetable to meet those expectations, Kurt’s willingness to embrace the conditions set forth by NASCAR is a positive step that we support.”
Stewart-Haas Racing has named Regan Smith as interim driver in the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for the third consecutive week in the upcoming Sprint Cup Series race this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Smith finished in 16th place in the Daytona 500 and captured a 17th place finish last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway
