Are Busch, Stewart really on the 'same page'?
Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009
AP
NASCAR driver Kyle Busch smiles as he talks to the media during a news conference at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Thursday, July 9, 2009.(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
JOLIET, Ill. – Tony Stewart said earlier this week that he and Kyle Busch were on the “same page” after Stewart knocked Busch out of the way on the final lap of NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Busch interpreted that conversation a bit differently Thursday, a few hours before practice started for Saturday’s Lifelock.com 400 Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I don’t really have feelings, so it didn’t mean a whole lot,” Busch said of the talk he had with Stewart, who won the race after bumping then-leader Busch out of the way. “I thank him, I guess, for checking on me to see if I was alive.”
It was the second time in this Sprint Cup season’s two restrictor-plate races that a last-lap incident has dictated the outcome. Carl Edwards’ Ford flipped and flew into the fence as he tried to pass eventual-winner Brad Keselowski as they approached the start-finish line at Talladega.
“I think NASCAR can take a step at looking at it,” said Busch of the late wrecks at restrictor-plate tracks. “If the second-place driver dumps – quote, unquote – the leader, black-flag (him) so he doesn’t get the win.”
Stewart’s front bumper caught Busch’s rear as Busch tried to block Stewart from passing him.
Busch was asked if what Stewart did would be termed being “dumped.”
“It would be considered a dump,” he said.
Other drivers, though, generally sided with Stewart, who wouldn’t comment on what Busch said Thursday.
“It was a long way from a dump, in my mind,” said Kasey Kahne. “It’s part of racing at those tracks. I have no issue with it.”
Said Juan Pablo Montoya: “I don’t know why all of a sudden it’s an issue. At Talladega (and Daytona), there are always wrecks. There is always going to be somebody walking out of there mad.”
Jeff Gordon also didn’t fault Stewart, because he said he knows what was going through Stewart’s mind.
“We’re race car drivers and we’re not necessarily going to be thinking clearly on the white flag lap at Daytona and Talladega,” Gordon said. Notes
* Driver Jeremy Mayfield, who failed a mandatory drug test by NASCAR in May, isn’t in Chicago and won’t race Saturday, although he was cleared by a judge in June to compete. John Buric, Mayfield’s attorney, told the Associated Press that Mayfield hasn’t been able to find sponsorship or an owner who’s willing to give him a ride. NASCAR earlier this week asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen that had cleared Mayfield to race.
* Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Denny Hamlin will take part in a tire test at Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 13-14. The track’s Labor Day race will be at night for the first time.
* Randy Hood, crew chief for the Nationwide Series’ Chevy driven by Danny O’Quinn Jr., has been fined $2,500 by NASCAR for equipment violations during last week’s race at Daytona.
* Katie Kenseth, wife of driver Matt Kenseth, gave birth to a baby girl – Kaylin Nicola -- on Monday.
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