In the wake of NASCAR’s supposed change to allow drivers to show their personalities more, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart find themselves literally tangled together to test the waters. After an on track incident between the two, Kurt Busch began using his left fender to peel off the #20 car’s contingency decals as they came off the race track. This resulted in the two being called to the NASCAR hauler for a meeting. Personally, I wasn’t buying NASCAR’s supposed “change” when it was first mentioned by Brian France, and I’m still not sold on it. Perhaps it’s because of all the presidential candidates using the word “change” in every other sentence. I’m just not buying it from anyone yet.
Since the meeting in the NASCAR hauler, all parties have been hush-hush on just what was said or done inside the trailer by playing on a little Vegas-style marketing, “what happens in the NASCAR trailer, stays in the NASCAR trailer.” It’s been rumored that insults and possibly punches were making their way across the room. If the rumor is true, then this will be at least the second time Kurt has been punched by a driver way over Kurt’s weight class. Both drivers were told to report to the trailer again this morning (I assume in an effort to find cooler heads) and since then they’re both claiming to be over it.
Are they really over it? I most certainly think not. I don’t think they were ever over last year’s incidents, and I honestly don’t think the two will ever have much of a liking for one another. From the video clips I’ve seen, it looked to me like Tony had a run on Kurt and was thinking of threading the needle on the right side of the Blue Deuce. How much room was there? Didn’t look like much to me when you see how quickly the nose of Kurt’s car turned into the wall. Did Kurt move up on purpose or bounce up in front of Tony? It didn’t look like either of those happened in my opinion. Therefore, I chalk up the contact on the banking as simply a racing deal while also acknowledging that either one of those two cats could have intended to be a nuisance to the other, and thus, either one possibly could have started or prevented the whole thing.
But what about the contact between Busch and Stewart coming off the track? I will tell you that so far my biggest issue with the coverage is that it didn’t appear Kurt was slamming on Tony’s car on pit row like the TV announcers were calling it. It looked to me like the contact was occurring on the entrance to pit row. I’d like to see other angles before everyone crucifies Busch as endangering fans, officials and crew members on pit row if that’s not where the activity occurred.
What do you think about the contact? Was it intentional blocking by Busch? Could Tony have controlled his closing rate better and not hit Kurt on the corner of the car? Or what do you think about the contact Kurt made with Tony’s car? Either way, it’s obvious that Kurt’s temper hasn’t changed much.
Cue David Bowie’s Changes and let us know what you think in the comments section as well as in the new poll to the right.