RIP, Bill France Jr.

Note: This was originally posted June 5, 2007.

I only get to show one photo on here, and I probably should have put Bill France Jr.'s photo on here, but I didn't. Let me just say that I wish all the France family well, and know that we, as Nascar fans, will never forget Bill's contributions to the sport we all love so much. God watch over the family.

Next, Congratulations Martin Truex Jr. for your first Cup win! Awesome car, awesome driver. DEI is proud of you more than you can probably realize right now!

Let me get to the meat of this monologue though, and just say that Kurt Busch should be suspended for multiple races, and have about 300 driver's and owner's points erased. I happened to tape the race, (I don't have TIVO yet), and backed it up and watched it several times. Kurt Busch was at fault, or his spotter was. Kurt was not 'clear' when he cut up in front of Tony Stewart. Not only did Kurt put the 20 car into the wall, but he got himself wrecked. Tony could have slowed down, I suppose, but that's not what racing is supposed to be about, at least I don't think.

Kurt and Tony had been racing side by side for several laps, and it was Kurt who took the high lane before he was clear. I don't know if that was Kurt's fault or his spotter's fault, but either way, Kurt hit Tony. I've watched this every which way, and I can come to no other point of view.

Racing is racing. Stuff happens. Kurt should have been willing to let that go. But Kurt didn't, and in a spectacular way.

On pit road after the accident, Kurt Busch pulled the left side of his car right up and into the right side of Tony Stewart's car. This all happened with Tony sitting in his pit stall. What made it worse was that Jason Lee, a pit road crewmember for the 20 team was almost caught between the 20 and the 2 cars. Jason had enough of a visual warning that the 2 was aiming right at him, that he had the chance to jump onto the hood of the 20 car to avoid a stay in the hospital, if not the morturary.

Folks, Kurt Busch's actions were mindless. There was not a brain driving the functions that caused him and a 3600 lb. car to drive almost into Jason Lee. Kurt Busch's first race in the then Winston Cup was in 2001, and he got into a car painted black with the number '3' on the roof and on the door panels. Immediatly, a finger came out the window of the 3. It was the middle one. Apparently the driver of that car was not pleased, and he was not a rookie, as was Kurt.

Kurt Busch has had plenty of chances since that time. He left Roush Racing after winning a championship to drive for Penske Racing. At the end of his tenure at Roush he had a pretty famous run-in with the police in Arizona. Oh, I think a guy named Jimmy Spencer also had some problems with Kurt. I think Spencer got sat down for that little problem as well.

It's time to sit Kurt Busch on the bench for a while. I don't know how many races, but it should be more than one. Pit crews are very vulnerable on pit road with the cars moving in and around them, and Kurt's problem with Tony should have been kept until after the race. Involving pit crew members was totally idiotic.

One thing about the Busch Brothers is that they never disappoint. You can rely on one of them to do something really stupid, almost every week.