Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Darlington Fans Flames of Busch/Harvick Feud

Busch and Harvick are downplaying their past issues
Darlington Raceway is promoting Saturday night’s Bojangle’s Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race as “Round 2” of the ongoing feud between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, and neither driver is particularly happy about it.

Harvick and Busch clashed – both on and off the race track – at Darlington a year ago, culminating in a pit road skirmish that saw Harvick attempt to punch Busch through the window of his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota on pit road after the race. Busch accelerated away from Harvick, hitting his unoccupied Budweiser Chevrolet and pushing it into the pit wall.

Both drivers were fined $25,000 and placed on probation by NASCAR for their actions, and continued to express unhappiness with each other through the balance of the 2011 season.

Now, however, the rivals say they disapprove of a Darlington promotional campaign that features Harvick glowering at a celebrating, boxing-glove equipped Busch above the warning, "Don't Miss Round 2" of the battle between "Hitman" Harvick and "Rowdy" Busch.

The campaign – which includes highway billboards throughout the region, radio and internet ads – has been called “dumb” and “pretty stupid" by Busch, with Harvick saying the manufactured drama makes it tougher to do his job, adding, “It’s just easier not to be involved.” Darlington Raceway President Chris Browning said he approached both drivers to take part in a “Round 2” promotion for this weekend’s race, but was politely rebuffed.

For their record, the two have raced trouble-free this season, and even drafted together last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway without incident.

Photo Credit: daylife.com

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:53 PM

    they should have fun with it like jack benny & fred allen did with their "feud"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:23 PM

    As usual, the great Godfather points this out while the rest of the so-called media naps. It's JUST like the crash crash Miss Sprint Cup, crash crash show full grandstands ads Moody talked about that Talladega used to promote the race on TV, on the Internet, and elsewhere. This isn't the way to improve TV ratings or tickets sold this Saturday night.

    It's stupid and gives further credence to those who view the sport simply as infantile and nothing more than Full Metal Wrestling.


    Doug from NJ

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  3. Anonymous12:00 PM

    Kudos to the drivers for not taking part in marketing to the lowest common denominator.
    And since the subject is marketing, can someone please explain why Talladega thinks showing Carl Edwards car flying into the catch fence is a good idea?
    I see that and am reminded a young fan was injured attending a race, yeah that makes me want to go. Not.

    Robert Y
    Cincinnati

    ReplyDelete