Despite yesterday’s decision that NASCAR driver Kurt Busch won’t face any criminals charges for an alleged altercation against ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll last September, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver remains indefinitely suspend from competition.
NASCAR Vice President of Integrated Marketing Communications David Higdon further explained why Friday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR radio.
“Our actions were based on what we heard from the Commissioner in the family court of the state of Delaware,” Higdon said on The Morning Drive. “At the time, we knew there was a chance that the Attorney General could go one way or the other. Our terms and conditions made it very clear that he needed to understand that additional findings in criminal court may affect his eligibility for reinstatement.
“As the Department of Justice was very clear in their statement, they determined that admissible evidence and available witnesses would likely be inefficient to meet the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed a crime. They are very clear on that, just as the Commissioner in the family court was very clear that they were satisfied with the evidence that was presented at the trial that there was a case here.”
Despite being cleared criminally, the Las Vegas, Nevada native appears to be on his way to reinstatement from NASCAR after being suspended just two days before the Daytona 500, after a Delaware family court commissioner approved Driscoll’s request for an order of no-contact.
Higdon acknowledged that Busch had agreed to the sanctioning body’s reinstatement process, but he declined to comment on specifics on what those terms and conditions are, nor would he elaborate if Busch could return this year.
Higdon did, however, say that the sanctioning body stands behind the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion while he continues the (reinstatement) process.
“When you have a legitimate court in Delaware making a statement like they did, I think it would have been ridiculous for us to not act in that case,” Higdon added. “We had been very patient over three months. We were being dragged through (a) lot of mud during that period, but we also felt that it was only fair to the driver that the facts come through. When they ultimately did come though this court in Delaware, we had to act. At the same time, the impact of yesterday certainly will factor in since the elimination of the possibility of criminal charges certainly is something that is removing a significant impediment to his reinstatement.’’
Moving forward, Higdon noted that NASCAR has worked to be more qualified to deal with potential future issues, especially after observing other high-profile cases in other sports, most notably the National Football League.
“We watched the NFL,” Higdon said. “We began actually talking to experts in that area when the NFL was going through that. We proactively made sure that we understood the issue. We learned about it long before we actually had the situation with Kurt Busch.”
Conditions of the no-contact forbidden Busch from getting within 100 yards of Driscoll, except at NASCAR races and related events where closer proximity is required for Busch to “perform his duties as a driver or sponsored athlete.”
Regan Smith remains the interim driver for Kurt Busch for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Smith has competed in the first two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races with a best finish of last 16th in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
