Just how stable is Busch’s future with JGR?
The fallout continues to mount for Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing since Kyle Busch decided at Texas Motors Speedway last Friday that it would be a good idea to wreck then-championship contender Ron Hornaday during a caution in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
NASCAR put its foot down, with sanctioning body president Mike Helton saying that the previously-undefined line not to be crossed was definitely crossed by Busch. NASCAR proceeded to park Busch for the remainder of the Truck Series race, in addition to barring him from Nationwide and Sprint Cup series activity for the weekend.
That was followed up on Monday with a $50,000 fine for breaking NASCAR’s “actions detrimental to stock car racing” catch-all rule.
While Busch has fulfilled his NASCAR punishment, he, along with his Nationwide and Sprint Cup series racing home—Joe Gibbs Racing—continue to be penalized.
M&M’s, the primary sponsor on Busch’s Sprint Cup car issued an official statement on Saturday, essentially saying that it was disappointed in Busch’s behavior in the truck race. The sponsor then took its disappointed stance a step further this week when it pulled its sponsorship off the No. 18 car for the remaining two races on the 2011 Sprint Cup Series schedule.
And JGR’s Busch-related sponsorship woes don’t stop there. According to several published reports, including those by the Associated Press and ESPN, Z-Line Designs, a primary sponsor of the No. 18 Nationwide car, usually driven by Busch, has asked Joe Gibbs Racing to put a driver other than Busch in the car it is scheduled to sponsor in the NNS series-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend.
Judging by quotes from team owner Joe Gibbs in press releases and during interviews, JGR expects to continue its relationship with Busch in 2012 and some of those same quotes suggest that M&M’s will be back on the car next year. But is it all just some kind of PR damage control?
It seems like this one act by one driver has caused a race team a lot of headaches over the last week, so is Busch’s future with his present employer really as stable as we’re all being led to believe? Time will tell.
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