Kurt Busch said he and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had a great meeting. Credit: Autostock

Kurt Busch completes his community service

Meeting with Maricopa County sheriff 'was fun,' Busch says

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Kurt Busch began his return to Phoenix International Raceway by completing 50 hours of community service for his reckless driving charge before last November's race.

Busch donated more than $10,000 worth of baseball equipment to the Westside Recreational program and spent Wednesday signing autographs for more than 300 kids at Friendship Field.

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He also taped a public service announcement on safe driving.

"To have my 50 hours complete, that definitely is a breath of fresh air,'' Busch said before Thursday's qualifying for the race he won a year ago. "We did 100 percent of the effort in the Phoenix community to make a large impact with children in the community.''

He also made friends with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who took a hard stand against the 2004 Nextel Cup champion after the Nov. 11 incident in which Busch was accused of being belligerent toward one of his officers after being pulled over for speeding and running a stop sign.

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"That was fun to meet with him,'' Busch said. "He was very surprised with my demeanor and how open I was to him and some of his sarcastic jokes about last year.

"We definitely had a great time meeting one another and going through the personal service announcement as well as looking to the future when I come back here in November.''

Unleaded fuel coming

NASCAR is ahead of schedule on switching to unleaded fuel in the Cup Series, with plans to use it in a couple of races after the midpoint of this season.

"Things are moving along pretty good,'' said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition. "The main thing is to give the competitors a chance to use it.''

Going, going ...

Darlington Raceway is less than 1,800 tickets away from selling out the May 13 race for the second consecutive year.