Kurt Busch

NASCAR has suspended former cup champion Kurt Busch from all NASCAR events through June 13th. The suspension comes when, after Saturday's Nationwide race, Busch went to a tirade aimed at a member of the NASCAR media corps as a television camera rolled. Busch was already on probation at the time of the incident, and that has been extended until the end of the season. The suspension means he can not compete in this weekend's Sprint Cup series race at Pocono, nor the truck race at Texas.

Kurt Busch has won the first road course race of his career with a dominating performance at Infineon Raceway. Busch led a race-high 75 laps and beat Jeff Gordon by almost 4 seconds for his first victory of the season. It marked a total turnaround for Busch and his Penske Racing team, which struggled mightily last month and made behind-the-scenes personnel changes to adapt. Carl Edwards finished third Sunday, followed by Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose. The race featured several on-track flare-ups, most notably Brian Vickers' payback spin of Tony Stewart.

Kurt Busch appears to be out of a job. The Charlotte Observer and That'sRacing.com 's Jim Utter is reporting that Busch has been fired from Penske Racing and that an official announcement will come on Monday. Busch was fined $50,000 after the final race of the season by NASCAR for his conduct of the track, after a cell phone camera caught Busch screaming profanities at ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch and for  flipping some one off on camera as he headed to the garage when his transmission broke.

Sheryl Crow sang a change would do you good. And although it's not a big change, the change from the 2 to the 22 could be good for Kurt Busch. He never seemed to fit in the Blue Deuce or be embraced by its fans. Now he's a new car, where he can have his fans and walk with his own swagger. If Saturday night's duel is any indication, the change has done the former champ good. But he's fighting a tough battle. He's the only competitive Dodge on the track, and there are times in the course of a chase, where you are going to need some friends.

Budweiser Shootout winner Kurt Busch got it right—Daytona is a whole new game.   With a push from 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, Busch won Saturday night’s season-opening exhibition race when Denny Hamlin drew a black flag for passing below the yellow out-of-bounds line as the cars approached the finish.   Hamlin, who was inches ahead at the stripe, was demoted to 12th for the infraction and scored as the last car on the lead lap.   Without a teammate in the race, Busch took his first victory at Daytona—and his first victory on a restrictor-plate racetrack, for that matter—in the No. 22 Penske Dodge.

Taking a quick break from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR driver Kurt Busch stopped in Kansas City today to learn some secrets to what makes Kansas City barbeque famous. Busch, who will return to Kansas City for the Oct. 9 Hollywood Casino 400, spent time with a pit master from Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ learning the tricks of the trade while barbequing shrimp, salmon, steak, chicken and burnt ends for fans and media to sample throughout the hour-long lesson. Busch took a quick break from his BBQ 101 lesson and with Kansas Speedway PresidentPat Warren presented Major General Lee Tafanelli of the Kansas National Guard tickets to the upcoming Hollywood Casino 400 for the members of the National Guard to attend the fourth race in the Chase.

Kurt Busch seemed relaxed as he stood over the girl at Jack Stacks BBQ in Kansas City. The Las Vegas native was in town to learn the secret of KC BBQ and to help promote next week's race at the Kansas Speedway. "I enjoy jumping out on to the gril," said Busch. "When I get scared is when I'm in the kitchen, when I have to bake something or get all the other side fixin's. The grill, I think that's a man's place. " Busch, who won the first Chase for the Championship in 2004, is currently 9th in points as NASCAR's chase enters it's third week.

In one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history, Emporia native Clint Bowyer finished 2 thousandths of a second behind Jimmie Johnson, taking 2nd in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. In a three-wide six car finish, Johnson earned his first win of the season pushing past Bowyer just six inches from the finish line.  The finish tied Ricky Craven’s victory over Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003 for the closest since the introduction of electronic timing and scoring in 1993.

Okay, honestly, I didn't want to waste another blog on Kurt Busch. I think it's been pretty well established that I used to like Kurt and that I believe that he has some personal demons that have caused him to spiral out of control. I also think its pretty sad. But it is what it is. Then I logged onto twitter this morning and saw a decent sized group of people not chastising Busch for acting like a spoiled brat, but the media for simply doing their job. It's true, Busch is only obligated to to speak with the media if he finishes in the top five, otherwise he can "politely decline.

For a large part of the 2011 Carl Edwards was the hottest thing on wheels. For most of the 2012 season, he was just a footnote. It seemed like the more he tried, the more he pushed, the farther away from 2011 form Edwards got last season. 2013 is a fresh start for the 99 team. Crew Chief Jimmy Fenning comes over from the 17 team to take over as crew chief. And pretty much every where he has gone, consistency has followed. Oh and Fenning has what Edwards wants, a Cup Championship (in 2004 with Kurt Busch)

Everyone is talking about Florida and Ohio, yet when it comes to the Chase for the Championship, Texas may be the true swing state. Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski have been the clear front runners for the chase from the beginning. But like any true underdog, both Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne have been hanging around ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness from the leaders. "Certainly one little slip up on either one of their parts then Kasey or I can be right there for the taking," said Bowyer.

Okay, let's talk playoffs. There are technically eight drivers still alive to make the NASCAR Chase for the Championship. But unless your name is Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch, you basically have to win and get some help to get in. "We're confident coming into this weekend," said Busch. "We feel like we've always done well here.  We have really good notes that we have a good basis for being able to run well here and have a good foundation to start practice with.  We'll continue to do some of the same things that we've always done here in the past to make our car what it needs to be for the race on Saturday night.

Leave all your left turn jokes behind this week, NASCAR is making right turns too this weekend. The course formally known as Sears Point, formally known as Infineon, will host the first road course race of the year. I feel like this course has had more name changes than Prince or P-Diddy. For now, it's Sonoma Raceway, but they are looking for sponsorship, so that too could soon change. In the past, when NASCAR made right turns, a slew of " road course ringers" would show up at the track.

NASCAR has suspended former cup champion Kurt Busch from all NASCAR events through June 13th. The suspension comes when, after Saturday's Nationwide race, Busch went to a tirade aimed at a member of the NASCAR media corps as a television camera rolled. Busch was already on probation at the time of the incident, and that has been extended until the end of the season. The suspension means he can not compete in this weekend's Sprint Cup series race at Pocono, nor the truck race at Texas.

If you are an old school race fan, than this weekend is for you. Saturday night, under the lights in the heart of  racing country, Darlington, South Carolina. Of course, for years the Southern 500 was a must see Labor Day weekend event for race fans, and the idea of running it onMother's Day weekend, which used to be an off weekend, is still taking some getting used to for me. And I'm a pretty new race fan. But the "Darling" Lady in Black always guarantees one thing, some of the best racing you will see all year long.

Kurt Busch and Penske Racing have parted ways after yet another embarrassing incident for the 2004 NASCAR champion. Penske Racing says in a Monday statement it is evaluating its options for the No. 22 Dodge. The split comes after six bumpy years for Busch and Penske. Although Busch won 10 races since joining the organization in 2006, his meltdowns on his team radio were notorious and two crew chiefs have left the team in the last three years. Busch also sparred this season with the media more than usual, and was fined $50,000 last month by NASCAR after he was caught on video by a fan being verbally abusive to an ESPN reporter.

Kurt Busch appears to be out of a job. The Charlotte Observer and That'sRacing.com 's Jim Utter is reporting that Busch has been fired from Penske Racing and that an official announcement will come on Monday. Busch was fined $50,000 after the final race of the season by NASCAR for his conduct of the track, after a cell phone camera caught Busch screaming profanities at ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch and for  flipping some one off on camera as he headed to the garage when his transmission broke.