Kurt Busch and $50000
Kurt Busch’s adventurous final race day Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway has produced yet another negative reaction.
NASCAR took the unusual action of announcing a major fine against Busch Friday, saying Busch’s actions during the Homestead race will cost him a 50,000 dollars fine.
Busch made an obscene hand gesture – caught by an in-car camera – after his transmission blew early in the Ford 400. A few minutes later, while waiting to be interviewed by television reporter Jerry Punch, Busch unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at Punch and his camera crew, ultimately leading Punch to walk away without doing the interview.
NASCAR said late Friday afternoon that it hit Busch with the fine for his “poor judgment in making an inappropriate hand gesture” and because he showed “disrespect towards a media member.”
Although it is rare for NASCAR to fine a competitor for a confrontation with news media representatives, the NASCAR release announcing the fine included the fact that Busch’s encounter with Punch “followed similar inappropriate media confrontations earlier in the season.”
Those included actions at the second Richmond race, where Busch had to be restrained from going after a NASCAR.com reporter and later took an interview transcript from another reporter and tore it in half.
After the incident with Punch, which was videotaped and seen by thousands on the internet, Busch and his Penske Racing team issued apologies.
Kurt Busch.
There was no Thanksgiving pardon for Kurt Busch.
NASCAR fined Busch 50,000 dollars Friday for incidents which occurred during Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
After his car broke his transmission on Lap 13, Busch drove into the garage area for repairs and the in-car camera shot shown on ESPN showed Busch using an obscene gesture.
Once out of his car and while waiting to do a live interview with ESPN, Busch continually launched into profanity-laced conversations with ESPN’s Doctor Jerry Punch, who finally stopped the interview. A fan’s videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube.
In its penalty release, NASCAR cited Busch’s “poor judgment in making an inappropriate hand gesture” when he drove his car into the garage.
In addition, NASCAR said Busch showed “disrespect towards a media member,” an incident that followed similar inappropriate media confrontations earlier in the season.
Busch most recently had confrontations with two media members during the September race weekend at Richmond, Va., for which he apologized.
Busch, along with Penske Racing, issued separate apologies this week for the incidents Sunday.
“These actions do not represent Penske Racing and are inconsistent with the company’s standards for behavior, respect for others and professionalism. This matter is being reviewed internally” – the Penske statement said.
NASCAR fined Kurt Busch 50,000 dollars on Friday for his poor behavior during the Sprint Cup finale last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NASCAR cited both an obscene gesture Busch made inside his car and him being verbally abusive to a reporter in fining the 2004 Cup champion.
“Kurt Busch showed disrespect toward a media member, an incident that followed similar inappropriate media confrontations earlier in the season” – NASCAR said in a statement announcing the penalty.
Busch had a transmission problem early in Sunday’s race that sent his Penske Racing Dodge to the garage. His in-car camera caught him making an obscene gesture during that time.
While his team made repairs, Busch waited to be interviewed by an ESPN reporter, and a fan videotaped Busch being verbally abusive while waiting to go live.
That video was posted on YouTube, and both Penske officials and Busch have apologized in separate statements for his behavior.
“Unfortunately, our result in the season-ending race at Homestead on Sunday was not what we had hoped for as a team” – he said. “In my frustration with the loss of my transmission early in the race, I let my emotions get the better of me. I regret having done this and apologize to the sponsors of Penske Racing, to NASCAR, its fans, to the media and in particular, Dr. Jerry Punch.”
Penske officials said earlier this week that Busch’s “inappropriate actions” were being reviewed internally.
“These actions do not represent Penske Racing and are inconsistent with the company’s standards for behavior, respect for others and professionalism” – the team said in a statement.
The penalty comes just days after Busch crew chief Steve Addington quit the team, and three weeks to the day that Busch’s younger brother, Kyle, intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in a Truck Series race.
NASCAR suspended Kyle Busch for the remainder of the weekend at Texas – he was entered in both the Nationwide and Cup events – and fined him 50,000 dollars for the Hornaday wreck. He then spent the next week fighting to keep his seat with Joe Gibbs Racing because sponsor M&M’s was embarrassed by his actions.