Foes back Busch’s harsh penalty notebook
LONG POND – The majority of the Nextel Cup drivers quizzed about Kurt Busch’s penalty believed it was necessary and could be difficult to overcome.
Busch was fined $100,000, placed on probation for the remainder of the season and – the biggest caveat – docked 100 driver points. The team was also penalized 100 owner points.
“I’ve already got a 25-point penalty this year,” Elliott Sadler said Friday before qualifying for Sunday’s Pocono 500. “It’s very hard to overcome, but I like penalties given out.
“NASCAR came to us two or three years ago and it was just fines at the time. The fines didn’t seem to be working, so they started taking points away. I think that gets a lot more attention.”
Busch’s penalty for his pit road incident with Tony Stewart on Monday at Dover also put Tony Stewart’s pit crew in danger of injury. While Tony Stewart was undergoing repairs, Busch pulled alongside him and one crew member had to jump out of the way.
“You have to take care of the people on pit road. That’s for sure,” Kasey Kahne said. “You don’t do anything to cause anybody on pit road harm. It’s hard enough to do what they have to do with all of us on pit road trying to do a pit stop.
“That’s hard enough to take care of that, let alone have somebody else when you would least be expecting having a car close to yours.”
The loss of 100 points dropped Busch from 11th in the standings – a spot that would put him in the Chase for the Nextel Cup – to a 17th-place tie.
“Obviously, you knew the penalty was going to be fairly big,” Matt Kenseth said. “I think we all have short tempers at times, we all get mad about things at times, but you’ve really got to police pit road.”
PARKING BAN: Fans accustomed to parking along Stony Hollow Road and walking to the track might need to make alternative plans.
A one-mile stretch of the road from the Interstate 80 underpass to the junction with Long Pond Road was posted on both sides Friday with “No parking/tow away zone” signs.
PRACTICE NOTES: Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the only practice Friday, recording a speed of 166.664 mph. Six others topped 166 mph – Martin Truex Jr. (166.596), Clint Bowyer (166.303), Casey Mears (166.297), Kasey Kahne (166.153), Denny Hamlin (166.134) and Ryan Newman (166.101).
Points leader Jeff Gordon was 24th, with a speed of 164.312 mph.
Today’s final practices – from 10-10:45 a.m. and 11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m. – will give a better indication of who could run up front tomorrow because the teams will be using race trim.
BUSCH WHACKED: It was a rough day for Kurt Busch.
Not only did Busch receive a heavy penalty from NASCAR for his pit incident Monday at Dover, but his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge needed repairs before Friday’s qualifying. A little more than hour before qualifying was scheduled to start, the Penske South team had the right fender, engine and drive shaft removed. The right quarter panel was also scraped up considerably.
The team decided to go to a backup car for qualifying. He will start 27th tomorrow.
POCONO, YANKEES TEAMING UP: Pocono Raceway and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will hold the inaugural Pocono Raceway Night at 7 p.m. July 21 at PNC Field.
There will be several NASCAR-themed promotions, including the Yankees wearing specially designed Pocono Raceway jerseys that will be auctioned off to the fans. Also, fans in attendance will have a chance to win four Terrace Club tickets to the Pennsylvania 500 on Aug. 5.
There will also be a buy-one, get-one ticket promotion for the 1:30 p.m. game on Saturday, July 7, vs. Ottawa. Anyone purchasing a ticket for that game will get a ticket for the ARCA RE/MAX Series race on Saturday, Aug. 4. To be eligible, Yankees tickets must be purchased at the box office.
ARCA QUALIFYING: Cup regular David Reutimann qualified second for today’s ARCA RE/MAX Pocono 200. That would normally mean doom for the ARCA regular (Cup drivers won five of six ARCA events from 2002-2005), but not this time.
Reutimann practiced and qualified the car for fellow Toyota driver Josh Wise, who participated in the Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway.
Wise will return to Pocono in time for today’s 1 p.m. start and drop to the rear of the field before the green flag because he didn’t qualify the car.
“This isn’t exactly the easiest place to come to with the shifting and all the stuff that’s involved,” Reutimann said. “Josh will be in for a crash course – not a crash course, let me back up – he’ll have to learn a lot in a short amount of time to get him where he needs to be.”
Tim Andrews, the 19-year-old son of Busch Series and Cup racing crew chief Paul Andrews, won the pole.
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