The Frontstretch: Side-By-Side : Whose Fault Was It -- Tony Stewart Or Kurt Busch? by Amy Henderson and Bryan Davis Keith -- Tuesday February 12, 2008

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Side-By-Side : Whose Fault Was It -- Tony Stewart Or Kurt Busch?

Amy Henderson and Bryan Davis Keith · Tuesday February 12, 2008

 

Editor’s Note : The following is a special edition of Frontstretch’s Side-By-Side? Occasionally throughout the season, two of your favorite Frontstretch writers will duke it out in a debate concerning one of NASCAR’s biggest stories. Don’t let us be the only ones to speak our minds, though…be sure to read both sides and let us know what you think about the situation in the comment section below!

Today’s Question : Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch tangled Friday in Bud Shootout practice, destroying Busch’s No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. It’s a wreck Busch responded to by using his damaged race car to beat and bang Stewart’s vehicle all the way down pit road, the second such time he’s done so in the past year (see Dover, June 2007).

With that in mind, the question is … did Busch overreact and wreck a perfectly good race car in the No. 20? Or, did Stewart go too far by reportedly throwing a punch at Busch in the NASCAR hauler?

NASCAR Should Have Thrown The Book At Busch
Amy Henderson

The blue car made a move to block the orange car closing in, but it came just a split second too late. The orange bumper made contact with the rear of the blue one, sending it spinning… and the driver's temper flaring right along with it. As the smoke cleared from an ugly wreck, both cars came down pit road; but the blue one chose not to play nice. Instead, he pulled up alongside the orange one — and slammed right into it.

No, I'm not talking about Friday night. I'm talking about last June.

It was at Dover nearly a year ago that Kurt Busch concluded a wreck that was a poor racing decision on his part — perhaps coupled with an overaggressive move on the part of Tony Stewart — was instead a personal slight by Stewart himself. So, Busch decided to bodyslam Stewart's machine as Stewart arrived in his pit for service… coming within a hairbreadth of hitting Stewart's jackman in the process. That crewman — wearing bright orange, remember! — was clearly visible, but Busch apparently just didn't care. NASCAR tried to; they levied a hefty point penalty on Busch, as well as a monetary fine. In one sense, he got off lucky; the penalty could have been much worse.

Too bad Busch didn't learn from that mistake.

Too bad NASCAR didn't care enough to do more.

Fast forward to Friday night's final Budweiser Shootout practice. Stewart tried to pass Busch to the inside down the back straightaway, except he ran into a problem; Busch threw a hard block on him. So, Stewart — now with a full head of steam — went for the high side instead. No dice there, either; Busch threw down another block. At that point, Stewart just couldn’t slow up; he hit Busch's right rear quarterpanel, sending him right into the wall in the process.

Could Stewart have backed down? Sure — although if he had, it's likely that Greg Biffle would have hit him from behind. So, he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. Had it been under race conditions with Busch protecting the lead, the block would have been legitimate; but it was a practice session for an exhibition race, and Stewart was in a clearly faster car. There was no reason to get that aggressive when no positions were at stake; unfortunately, Busch sealed his own fate with the second block — and paid the price for it.

But he wasn't done.

Busch slammed Stewart hard coming onto pit road several times, and looked as if he was going to ram him again before Martin Truex, Jr. and several others appeared on pit road en route to the garage to make adjustments. So, Stewart blocked the garage entrance, and Busch was forced to fall in line. In the end, Busch did squeeze by to get to his stall — perhaps closer than was strictly necessary — and barely managed to avoid Stewart's crew while doing so, who were coming to aid their driver.

After they parked, NASCAR promptly dropped the ball again.

When the dust settled, the two drivers were called into the NASCAR trailer to discuss the incident, where the usual rhetoric went on: the two were told to share the sandbox. Reportedly, Stewart had other plans; he took the opportunity to take a swing at Busch. So, officials told them to come back in the morning when they could behave; amazingly, no punishments would be doled out that night, or for the next few days.

Simply put, they told the two to play nice, be safe, and head home, even despite Busch’s ill-fated pit road wreck attempt, part II. Amazing; while Stewart should probably have refrained from attempting to rearrange Busch's ear surgery, it's hard to blame him once it became clear that the punch was the only punishment Busch would end up receiving.

Why on Earth would anyone think telling Busch to behave was enough? Obviously, the money and championship points have not deterred him from driving a 3400-pound missile toward unprotected crewmen on pit road — and we're supposed to believe that telling him to “play nice” will? NASCAR should have suspended Busch from the Budweiser Shootout, at the very least. We’re talking about a repeat offender here; this is not some driver who lost his temper once in a hundred races. A message should have been sent to clear up the problems — and doing so wouldn’t even mess with the whole “boys will be boys” mentality heading into 2008.

That’s because everyone knows you can do what you want outside the garage, but keep it off pit road. It's been a long-standing rule which was clearly violated; too bad NASCAR doesn't have the brass to enforce it.

Kurt Busch Justified
Bryan Davis Keith

About five minutes after I took this side, I found myself thinking “Bryan, is defending Kurt Busch really the best way to win readers over in your first column for FS?” Probably not… but here goes nothing. Because Kurt Busch had absolutely every right to go after Tony Stewart and his race car on Friday night during Bud Shootout practice … and I can prove it.

The “racing incident” that saw Stewart's No. 20 take out Kurt Busch heading into Turn 3 was both completely avoidable and unnecessary. This wasn't a race… it was practice. Sure, Tony Stewart got a great run down the backstretch, and under race conditions his move into the tiny hole between Busch's car and the wall would have brought the crowd to its feet — and for good reason. But this wasn't the case, making it all the more shocking Stewart's move on Busch was one more appropriate for 5 laps to go… not 5 minutes left in a practice session. Rather than backing off the gas and keeping both cars out of trouble, Stewart forced his way in… and Kurt Busch paid for it.

After the wreck, Busch had just cause to be angry regardless of the driver involved; his primary car was junk after being taken out for no good reason. Certainly, some sort of venting was justifiable; but had it been another driver, Busch's temper might have been kept under control.

When it came to wrecks, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch were joined at the hip in 2007 — leading to plenty of pent-up frustration that came out Friday at Daytona.

However, in this instance — considering the driver responsible was Tony Stewart — how can anyone blame Kurt Busch for going after him? This is the same Tony Stewart that wrecked Busch in exactly the same way at Dover last year … putting him in a deep points hole as he strived to make the Chase. This is the same Tony Stewart that has a history of run-ins at Daytona (just ask Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin), the same one who wrecked out with Busch in last February’s 500. Every single thing might not always be Tony’s fault; but frankly, I don't buy the theory that a plethora of NASCAR stars have just developed a habit of braking in front of the No. 20.

Busch has taken a lot of heat for going after Stewart's car on the track instead of Stewart in the garage. First of all, the argument about safety on pit road being threatened by Busch's aggression has been completely overblown. There were no personnel anywhere near either race car when Busch made his hard contact with Stewart. It was on the access to pit road… not in the pits. The only situation where pit crew members may have been endangered was when the two drivers were feigning at the entrance to the garage, and Stewart was, in that case, just as responsible as Busch for causing a problem.

The other argument I hear being made against Busch is that NASCAR is a team sport, and it was wrong for him to go after Stewart's car when his beef was solely with the driver. My response? You’re right; NASCAR is a team sport. Stewart is the man behind the wheel… but he is a member of the No. 20 team. If you use that argument, the No. 20 team junked Kurt Busch's and the No. 2 team's car just as much as Tony Stewart did.

Moreover, the No. 20 team puts race cars on the track for a driver who is known to be a hothead with a history of on-track run-ins. They are aware of their driver and his tendencies. If the No. 20 team wants to avoid having to fix race cars damaged by angry opponents, they are more than capable of telling their own driver to simmer down and shape up on the track. Let's not also forget that because of Stewart, Busch's team had to prep a backup car hundreds of miles away in the middle of the night for their driver to race on Saturday, and the fabricators back in Mooresville now have a car to rebuild due to Tony’s aggression.

So, eye for an eye, car for a car, I say.

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©2000 - 2008 Amy Henderson and Bryan Davis Keith and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!

Douglas
02/12/2008 08:51 AM
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Bryan! I 100% agree!

And I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind blame Busch for the childish behaviour of dear old Tony!

Amy has a skewed sense of reality!!

joe
02/12/2008 08:54 AM
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i pull for toyota but i think tony and bush should have been parked sat & for 500 if tony hit bush sit out 5 races make an example no fines sit out. get your att i bet

hachetwacker
02/12/2008 09:09 AM
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to bad he didnt smack him hard enough to unpin those ears a dumbo oughta look like a dumbo

Mel
02/12/2008 09:26 AM
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Dale Jr who was right behind all of this said that Kurt blocked Tony twice and payed the price for the second block and that Kurt took himself out. So I’ll take a driver’s word who was there and right behind the whole thing over a fan’s view of what happend. We the fans have no idea what went on on the track but Jr does. And if he said Kurt blocked Tony and wrecked himself well his view was sure as heck better than ours.

KS
02/12/2008 09:50 AM
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Why is Busch blocking during practice in the first place? NASCAR should have parked him last year when he tried to use his car as a weapon against a crew member. Every year his immature antics continue.
How any race fan with 2 brain cells to rub together could support that fool is beyond me.

JGR Fan
02/12/2008 10:47 AM
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There is no comparison!

Whether or not Tony intentionally spun Kurt on the track (although the replay certainly supports Junior’s comments that Kurt blocked Tony) is less of an issue than is the behavior that followed. Look at it this way…if you punch a guy on the street, he gets a black eye; a few bruises. If you hit a guy with a CAR most likely he ends up in the hospital or perhaps worst! Nascar should have parked Kurt! End of story.

Besides, Tony’s punch is still unconfirmed… although I agree with what Ken Scrader said last night on Speed… if Tony did hit Kurt in the trailer in front of Mike Helton and Jim Hunter.. then he certainly has Kahones of steel!

Margo L
02/12/2008 11:30 AM
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Apart from filling empty space on a blog , this particular column has no relevance at all .
There are two types of race fans represented here . NASCAR fans and race fans . Race fans understand that there is payback of many kinds by every driver , in every race , on every track in the world . Someone gets blocked , or boxed out , or blocked in the pits , or has another driver leave them hung out of the draft ,or delays staging to overheat his opponent, or spins another driver out , or runs into a competitor who they feel did them wrong . Race fans see this every week in every short track race or drag race or kart race all over the world .NASCAR fans on the other hand , view all of this as reasons to call out the firing squad , or ban a driver for life . Race fans know it just isn’that big of a deal .
Bryan , you might want to look into some other line of work besides blogging on NASCAR , because when the tape , and other drivers have one version of an incident , but you choose to invent your own facts and stick by them , you won’t keep any credibility for long . And credibility is what journalism is supposed to be all about .

Bill B
02/12/2008 12:24 PM
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The only thing proven in this article/debate is that it is hard to find a sane way to justify someone using a 3000 pound car as a weapon. I’m not getting into who was right or wrong but Bryan’s logic for justifying Kurt using his car is weak and forced. I know it’s hard to debate when you are on the losing side of an argument before the debate begins. There is no justification for anyone using a car as a weapon in a NASCAR race ever. Cars should only be used as weapons when running down psychopathic killers or preventing terrorists from carrying out their missions (or in the movies). I don’t care how they settle it, baseball bats, tickle fights, or bitch slapping, don’t use the cars.

Matt
02/12/2008 01:33 PM
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To anyone blaming Tony for that, I ask what are you smoking anyways? No matter what happened on the track, there is no excuse for ramming his car into someone. He obviously doesn’t learn from his previous penalties. Busch is a pompous little punk who is lucky he has gone this long since somebody else pulled a Jimmy Spencer on his ugly mug.

racer47
02/12/2008 01:36 PM
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Plain and simple….Dumbo was trying to “WIN” practice. I dont like either one of them to tell the truth. But Dumbush was 100% at fault in this case. When a car can cover a football field length in under 1 second, how is Stewart expected to slam on the brakes to keep from making contact with Busch? Impossible. My guess is that Kurts ears came out of his helmet and acted like a parachute. Thats what really caused this !!

chris
02/12/2008 02:56 PM
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KB was not trying to kill TS. You all write that a 3000# car was being used as a weapon. BS to that. If KB hits TS in the T-Bone method going 50+ mph more then its an assault. Slamming against him does nothing. These cars can go into the wall at 150+ and you guys cry, its a weapon and he is going to kill someone. Yes, likely it will be himself someday but not a competitor going 40mpg each…. Now hitting a crew member would not be good and for getting even close to that KB would deserve a punch to the eye – from the guy he misses not from some fat hick from Rushville, In.

chris
02/12/2008 03:24 PM
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wow, another chris :p

I agree. this “weapon” talk is nonsense. these cars are practically indestructible. A punch is probably significantly more dangerous to tony’s hand then those cars bouncing off eachother.

That being said, I really hope the “talking to” is the only action NASCAR takes, as it’s more fun to watch if there are real rivalries and not “co-op-etition”.

I like what Stewart (and busch) bring to the sport…but why would Stewart stick the nose of his car into that space? Either: he wanted to turn Busch…or he misjudged because the new car is 4 inches wider than the old clunker.

Joe Simmons
02/12/2008 08:22 PM
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Finally some sense in the NASCAR world!

Joanne
02/13/2008 12:09 AM
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Bryan I totally agree!

More Side by Sides!