Busch Brothers Add Controversy to Final Days of Speedweeks

Medical personnel attend to Kyle Busch after his vicious wreck in
Saturday's XFINITY Series race (Google Images)

Just when you thought Clint Bowyer's qualifying rant and Danica Patrick's shoving match with Denny Hamlin was all the intrigue we were going to get during Speedweeks, guess again. The controversy just got cranked way up.

Late Friday night, news broke that Kurt Busch had been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR competition in the wake of the domestic abuse case that has recently plagued his career. Last September at Dover International Speedway, Busch allegedly had an argument with his now ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. The dispute got heated and Busch grabbed Driscoll's face and slammed her head against a cabinet in his motorcoach. Since then, Busch has claimed in court that his ex is, in fact, a trained assassin who had the combat know how to beat him up too.

Busch went through both levels of the NASCAR appeal process on Saturday and, ultimately, the sanctioning body upheld the decision to ban the 2004 champion from the sport for the foreseeable future. Stewart-Haas Racing has named XFINITY Series regular Regan Smith as the substitute wheelman for Busch's No. 41 Chevy for this Sunday's Daytona 500. Any driver(s) beyond this weekend will be announced at a later date.

Honestly, this came as no surprise. With the recent developments in the NFL this past season (Ray Rice and Greg Hardy were two big name players found guilty of such behavior), the league was forced to make changes and react swiftly and effectively. NASCAR is no different. Yes fans have been posting comments online about how this suspension will "ruin Busch' career" or how in America, people are "guilty until proven innocent." These are the kinds of people who need to shut their mouths, open their ears and think before they talk. If Busch is truly innocent in all this, then when the court renders a final ruling, Busch will be exonerated and return to the drivers seat.

Busch's nickname is "The Outlaw" and, while that's a really cool sounding way to make him seem tough and misunderstood, it's really a goofy label for a driver with a track record of acting like a complete and total maniac.



Kurt Busch and Patricia Driscoll (Google Images)

But this is also a driver who was kicked out of his Roush Racing ride for the final two events of 2005 for drunk driving before the Phoenix race. He's also a driver who was fired from Penske Racing in 2011 for verbally assaulting reporter Jerry Punch in the garage before an interview at Homestead (a word of warning, the video clip contains some adult language). He was also kicked out of his Phoenix Racing machine for the June 2012 Pocono race for threatening reporter Bob Pockrass on pit road following the previous week's XFINITY Series race. He's even sped on pit road and almost taken out other drivers pit crews.( For example, Tony Stewart in 2007 at Dover and Ryan Newman in 2012 at Darlington) So, while  is indeed innocent until proven guilty, it's hard to have any sympathy for someone with Busch's track record of borderline insanity behind the wheel of a 3,800 lb weapon on wheels.

NASCAR made the right call by outlawing "The Outlaw." Maybe this will finally teach him a lesson.

Kurt's brother Kyle also made headlines this weekend and, while "Shrub" is almost as hated as his older brother, any real race fan had to cringe and hold their breath at what happened to him Saturday. With just nine laps remaining in Saturday's XFINITY race, Busch made contact while drafting with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Eric Jones as the field moved out of the tri-oval towards turn one. Several other cars were collected and a lot of those hits looked pretty ugly. But it was Busch's No. 54 Camry that hooked hard left and crashed head on at full speed into the inside retaining wall; a solid, white concrete wall, unprotected from any type of SAFER barrier.

The end result was Busch exiting his car under his own power, but then promptly laying on the ground to be tended to by medical personnel. His right leg was placed in an air cast, he was strapped to a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance that bypassed the infield care center and headed straight to Halifax Medical Center; the hospital up the road from the speedway. You can watch the video of this vicious impact here. Busch was later diagnosed with a compound fracture in his lower right leg and mid foot fracture in his left foot (the same foot he had surgery on prior to this season). As a result, he will miss Sunday's Daytona 500 and quite a few events after that. Defending Camping World Truck Series champ Matt Crafton will fill in in Busch's No. 18 car Sunday and additional drivers will be named at later dates. It'll be a long road to recovery for Busch and love him or hate him, you have to feel bad for the guy.

This impact also turned the spotlight onto NASCAR and track officials because, in this age of increased safety and constant innovations to protect drivers, Busch crashed into a solid concrete wall rather than the energy absorbing steel and foam of the life saving SAFER barrier. Drivers and fans alike took to Twitter to express their outrage, with his brother's replacement for this weekend, Regan Smith going as far to say that he was "genuinely furious" because the idea of having a track with any piece of unprotected wall "in any of the top 3 series... is INEXCUSABLE. It's 2015." You know something? He's absolutely right.


Kyle Busch's wrecked race car gets hauled off (Google Images)

No matter where it is on the track's property, if there's a wall anywhere around a racetrack, a race car will find it at some point. Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III, held a press conference after Busch's wreck. Chitwood told reporters that the track would place SAFER barriers "on every inch at this property" in the future and that they would begin construction as soon as this coming Monday. Until then, the track is employing some technology used in ancient Rome to protect chariot racers. Large stacks of tires will be placed in front of the wall where Busch hit to protect drivers on Sunday. Chitwood also said that cost cannot and will not be a factor in installing the new walls. Funny he should say that.

There's no excuse to have any unprotected wall at any race track anywhere in this day and age. But especially not at Daytona. The speedway has been working on Chitwood's "Daytona Rising" project that will update and improve seating and amenities around the speedway. This is a multi-million dollar project. So not spending another few million to add safer walls, something so crucial to driver safety is absolutely absurd and, to quote Smith, "inexcusable." It seems that now Chitwood might realize that, if his track doesn't do a good enough job of keeping drivers safe, fans won't keep showing up to see all of the wonderful new amenities he spent so much time and money installing.

And the shame of it is, this soft wall controversy overshadowed an amazing win by driver Ryan Reed and his No. 16 Roush Fenway team. He did an amazing job passing Brad Keselowski on the last lap for his first career win in the biggest race of the year. Reed is also a Type 1 diabetic, so this really was a great win by a great guy and a great role model.

This has quickly become one of the most intriguing and dramatic Speedweeks in recent memory. Maybe in history. This will also be the first race without a Busch brother in the field since 2001. Both brothers are out for different reasons, it's easy to feel sympathy for one and complete contempt for the other. But love them or hate them, one thing is for sure; Kurt and Kyle Busch are polarizing, they are colorful and they bring a ton of personality to the sport. And that aspect; the idea of having two drivers most people love to hate, is something that the sport is going to miss until at least one of them is able to return.