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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Kurt Busch – Non-Chasers Be Alert
Kurt Busch is confident he has a shot at the Sprint Cup Series championship...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 07, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Kurt Busch is currently in sixth place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The Kyle Busch-David Reutimann encounters in last Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway continue to echo through the field as teams prepare for Sunday’s race – the fourth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup – at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Busch bumped Reutimann into a slide early in the race, and Reutimann retaliated about a hundred laps later, thumping Busch into the wall – and into a 21st-place finish, significantly damaging his hopes in the Chase, a competition that does not include Reutimann.

There has been a general understanding through the years of the Chase format that non-Chase drivers should be alert for Chasers on the track and not make their lives miserable. But Reutimann’s decision to seek some frontier justice against Busch might have changed that perspective for some.

Kurt Busch, in an appearance Thursday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, said he understands both sides of the equation.

“I’ve been on both sides of the fence,” he said. “The years I’ve been in the Chase, I’ve wanted to have the mentality that other guys need to yield to a Chase guy. And, if you’re outside the Chase, you need to respect the guys that have a shot at the championship.

“But, in the end, you’re a racer. You’re going out there to race hard for your team and your sponsor and your crew, and you’re not going to treat anybody differently on the track. When somebody steps over the line with you, you have to filter through it, digest it, think about when it happened during the race. And every situation is different. I’ve been involved in plenty of them to know when it’s intentional and when it’s not.”

The bottom line, Busch said, is that those running outside the Chase 12 should have a sense of respect for what the Chasers are chasing.

“The non-Chase guys need to know what’s at stake for the Chase guys,” he said. “It’s the post-season. You need to know that it’s the playoffs.”

That being said, Busch added that the incidents between his younger brother and Reutimann are spikes for the sport.

“It’s racers being racers,” he said. “It’s not every day that guys are running into each other. We talk about it. It’s good for the sport. It’s healthy.

“It’s what makes our sport what it is today. It makes for fierce rivalries, the competitiveness, the fire-in-the-belly desire to go and be a champion driver. If you’re going to be a winning driver, you’re going to have conflicts.”

Busch, now sixth in Chase points, said he’s optimistic about keeping himself in championship contention as the tour visits Auto Club this weekend and Charlotte Motor Speedway next week.

“We have a solid foundation in points built up,” he said. “So do a lot of other guys. I look at California and Charlotte as getting to the halfway point of the Chase. I think these two tracks that I’ve won on are good tracks for us.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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