Busch, Reutimann learn two wrongs create mess

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Standing on the steps leading into his team hauler, David Reutimann was red-faced and heated, and not just from 400 miles on a sunny day at Kansas Speedway.

"He wrecked me," the Michael Waltrip Racing driver told reporters assembled around him in the garage area. "You guys can sugar-coat it all you want, but he wrecked me. You can tell me how bad he wants it, how hard he drives, how hard he wants it above everybody else, that's all fine. You guys can say all that. But he just wrecked me."

Payback

David Reutimann didn't appreciate a Lap 51 spin courtesy of Kyle Busch. So 100-plus laps later, Reutimann got his revenge.

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The latest feud between drivers on the Sprint Cup tour produced more than just cross words and hurt feelings. This time, it held potentially massive consequences, given that one of the combatants involved was a prime contender for the title entering Sunday's third round of the Chase. But that all changed after Kyle Busch turned Reutimann on Lap 51, and Reutimann banged into Busch 100 circuits later, and suddenly a driver who was very close to the top of the standings found himself trying not to fall out of the hunt altogether.

"He'll be here next year. He could have wrecked me in any of the first 26 races next year, that would have been fine," Busch said. "It's just hard to swallow something on a day where we had a solid top-five car going."

Regardless of how you feel about the parties involved, this one is fraught with dilemmas stemming from the fact that in NASCAR, you have championship contenders and non-contenders racing around one another at the same time. It's easy to say Busch made his own bed here, that he instigated the initial contact and got what he deserved. But you also have the Chase picture being directly affected by a driver who's now 18th in points, in a sport where competitors are occasionally advised in pre-race meetings to allow the championship contenders to decide the title among themselves.

That's not what happened Sunday at Kansas, where Busch was running seventh and only 11 points off the series lead when the No. 00 car pulled alongside on Lap 154. Clearly still stinging from contact on Lap 51 that sent him spinning into the tri-oval grass, Reutimann delivered the automotive equivalent of a right cross, banging into the No. 18 car and causing considerable damage in the vehicle's rear end. Of course, he also sent himself spinning through the grass, again. But the message was sent.

"I'm going to put it this way: I don't care if you're in the Chase or not, you need to think about who you're running over when you're running over them," Reutimann said. "I don't care. If you're in the Chase, you have as much of a responsibility to drive guys with respect as I do with everybody else. I don't know what to tell you guys. If you guys want me to feel bad about what happened [Sunday], yeah, I feel bad our car got wrecked and it ruined our day. That's what I feel bad about."

In the immediate aftermath, Busch was furious. "I have a serious problem with what just happened," he radioed his team. "I don't think anyone in the tower is going to do anything about it. And if they don't, we're going to have a meeting about it." Afterward, though, there was no summons to the yellow and white hauler. NASCAR, according to a spokesman, planned no action. Busch's car owner, Joe Gibbs, said he planned no protest and that he hoped the two Toyota teams would eventually work it out among themselves. Busch spoke briefly to the media and then left the track without stopping to voice any complaints to NASCAR. (Continued)