Kurt Busch

40

Kurt Busch : biography

August 4, 1978 –

Richmond (fall race)

During the September 11, 2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Busch locked up his brakes and accidentally wrecked Jimmie Johnson on lap 186. Despite it being clear that Kurt did not intend to crash him, Jimmie Johnson did not see it that way; and later retaliated spinning Busch going into Turn 1 sixty laps later and was parked for the balance of the race. Busch ended up in 5th place and called Johnson "A five time chump-ion."

In the post race interview, Busch was quoted as saying on ABC that he was "in [Johnson’s] head,". He had to be restrained after the race when NASCAR.com reporter Joe Menzer asked “Kurt, can either you or Jimmie win the Chase…”. Busch cut Menzer off replying “How did I see you were going to come with that? We’re good.” and started to walk away. Busch ultimately shouted expletives and physically went after Menzer before Penske team members had to physically restrain him. Jenna Fryer later in a press conference asked Johnson about the comment during the ABC post race interview, Busch interrupted saying "I didn’t say that tonight. Did not." Fryer offered to show him the ABC transcript, which he looked at after the interview. Busch proceeded to tear up the transcript showing he had made these statements and walked out of the media center.

Loudon

At the start of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch’s team was delayed in rolling their car to pit road until after the National anthem. This was done in response by NASCAR to an issue with the rear-end housing. Jamie Little, walking with Busch, asked if he was okay with her asking a question. Busch responded, "Why the f*** do you think I would be okay, I gotta go get in my car. NASCAR told me I gotta get in my car".

Homestead

In the final race of the 2011 season, Busch finished 47 laps behind the leaders, after spending time in the garage for mechanical issues that developed in the first five laps. While turning into the garage, Busch made an obscene hand gesture. While his car was undergoing repairs, Busch verbally abused Dr. Jerry Punch while waiting to be interviewed by Punch for ESPN, in an incident captured by a fan and posted on YouTube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsaBQq5D4Zg NASCAR fined Busch $50,000 for his actions during the race, and Penske Racing issued an apology for Busch’s "inappropriate actions". In December 2011, he announced that he was seeing a sports psychologist, acknowledging "I need to be a better person on the radio, to the team, as a leader. It’s personal issues, of course, and working with a sports psychologist, I’ve gotten obviously a small grasp, but there’s obviously bigger things that I need to accomplish and things can’t happen overnight."

Penske Racing and Busch later mutually agreed to part ways,http://www.penskeracing.com/news/index.cfm?cat_id=542&cid=50920 although many in the sport believe he was fired.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAR_NASCAR_KURT_BUSCH_PENSKE?SITE=GENERIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-05-13-57-18

2012

Darlington

With six laps remaining in the Bojangles’ Southern 500, Busch cut a tire and subsequently caused a wreck that involved not only his car but also Ryan Newman. When leaving his pit (directly in front of Newman), Busch did a burnout and sped next to where crew members and NASCAR officials where standing. Following the conclusion of the race, while entering pit road, Busch bumped Newman’s car. Busch explained the incident as an accident and unrelated, caused by taking his helmet off and not seeing where he was going. Andrew Rueger, Newman’s gas man, went after Busch following the race. This turned into a heated argument, accidentally knocking over a NASCAR official. Newman, giving an interview to Sports Illustrated, was quoted as saying, "It’s easy to say that Kurt blew a fuse again, I’m not sure why he did it and tried to run over our guys and NASCAR officials. And nobody is. I think the chemical imbalance speaks for itself. Kurt drilled me in pit lane and said that he was taking his helmet off, and he didn’t see where he was going. I’m pretty sure there were 42 other guys that are taking their helmets off and doing whatever for the last 10 years, and that’s the first time that’s happened to me." On May 15, 2012, NASCAR announced that Busch had been fined $50,000 and placed on probation until July 25, 2012 for "reckless driving on pit road during the race" and for being "involved in an altercation with another competitor after the completion of the race."