Monday morning, Busch's name and photo are not included on the M&M's website's "Meet The Crew" page. Crew chief Dave Rogers' profile appears, as do those of over-the-wall crew members Jake Seminara, Kenny Barner, Brad Donaghy, Jeff Fender, Tom Lampe and Nick Odell. Team spokesman Bill Janitz insisted via Twitter today that Busch's profile was never a part of the M&Ms "Meet The Crew" page, and that nothing has been removed.
Mars is a conservative company with a youth-oriented demographic, and multiple sources close to the situation say the company insisted on a clause in their conduct with JGR allowing them to terminate their sponsorship if the embattled driver acts in a manner they consider damaging to the brand.
Team owner Joe Gibbs made it clear Saturday that Busch's latest outburst creates a potential rift with the team's sponsors. He said team officials are "trying to meet with everybody that was affected by this. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of people to see, but we’re going to be trying to go through this and handle everything in the right way.”
Gibbs called this newest controversy "a tough situation for us,” saying that he will once again attempt to deal fairly with Busch, sponsors and team members. “(With) other things that have happened in the past, we’ve tried to handle those things the right way," said Gibbs. "Certainly, that’s what we’re going to try to do with this.”
Might be a stretch, but maybe a sponsor switch with Joey Lagono taking M&M's and Kyle Busch taking Home Depot for JGR?
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI normally love your reporting, but this is a non-story. I know for a fact that Kyle was never a part of the web page of which you speak.
I hate to say this, but it seems like you are fanning the flames with your headline to attract readers. I thought you were above that.
Take that small part out and it is still a newsworthy story..And I am a KB fan..and what he did was wrong in so many respects..
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information you have provided, I'll make my own decision about buying m&m products, after hearing from Gibbs or Mars about his future.
ReplyDeleteThe photo says he was bumped from the website so which is it?
ReplyDeleteAgree with Mike. Said that yesterday. Lagano would b a better fit for Mars publicity and Home Depot wants a championship. A "bad Boy" won't hurt them! Make it happen @joegibbsracing
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain to me why what KB did on Friday (while very wrong) was so much worse than what Carl did to Brad at high speeds in Atlanta? Carl got probation for something like 6 weeks, Kyle got parked for two races, and people want him fired.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, Harvick admitted after the race that he wrecked Kyle last year at Homestead, which caused a hard contact with the wall and a fire inside the car. Why no outrage then?
Kyle screwed up, but NASCAR has to stop making one person pay the price for their lack of oversight over the retribution and intentional wrecking that has been going on in the last two years.
What Carl did at Atlanta was done in a GREEN flag condition. Drivers under green are not trying to slow their cars/trucks down for safety purposes. Under YELLOW flag conditions the cars/trucks are supposed to be slowing to avoid a hazard that is somewhere on the track.
ReplyDeleteThat is at least one difference.
The real winner in this situation is Jeremy Mayfield. All of the media heat is focused somewhere else for the time being.
ReplyDeleteIMO, under caution
ReplyDeleteWe will take the M&M sponsorship over here at the Kenseth stables please :)
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteWould you rather be wrecked going over 180 mph and sent airborne into a fence upside down, or be hit at a slower rate of speed?
I agree that Kyle should have been parked, but why was nothing done to Edwards?
Yesterday was a perfect example of why they deal with Kyle and all he brings he's a winner plain and simple that 18 car sucked yesterday and come on what he did was wrong but wasn't that bad IMO khi got what was coming
ReplyDeleteFor all focused on the "what's the difference" aspect of this...the difference is the same as if it happened on pit road. There are safety workers on the track, not just competitors.
ReplyDeleteThe other difference is simple...Carl didn't tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...ok, now I'll shove you in the wall.
It's the difference in manslaughter and premeditated murder. If you hit him immediately, you can say "impulse". Kyle Busch (as Dave, and only Dave, mentioned) was like a cat teasing a mouse. All while being begged by his spotter to not wreck the 33.
The circumstances are different...completely. Besides - Carl's is 'Roid Rage from being jacked up on the juice! HAHA!!
Dwayne,
ReplyDeleteAre you trying to say that Carl's incident with Brad was an "impulsive" reaction? He sat in the garage planning it while his car was being repaired. It was, like, 30 laps later. Retaliation is retaliation.
As far as being under caution is concerned, then how come Vickers was allowed to hit Kenseth under yellow last week at Martinsville?
I think has more to do with number of times he's been warned in the past. Wasn't he on probation earlier this year for his run in's with Harvick that eventually got him punched by Childress? Carl pretty much cleaned up his temper tantrums after the deal with Brad last year and the subsequent warnings and punishments by Nascar. Sitting out a driver is IMO one of the punishments of last resort for Nascar because they know fans and sponsors are paying to see a certain driver behind the wheel so its a huge deal to tell a driver he can't race. So as I said think Kyle wrecking Ron under caution was just the final straw for Kyle with Nascar and they finally had to take a stand in the boys have at it before someone really got hurt. ~pj4jj~
ReplyDeleteI think the wrecker should be forced to pay for the wreckee's destroyed car out of the wreckers personal pocket.
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ReplyDeleteHe's still on the "official" m&m's facebook page. It's actually titled M&M's racing with Kyle Busch.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard and saw Joe Gibbs interview on Saturday I didn't feel sorry for him at all. These are the consequences of hiring Kyle Busch, a highly talented driver with serious character issues. They knew when they hired him what they were getting. So did Mars. So the "tough" days are their price for having Kyle Busch as the driver of the 18 M&M's car. At some point they will have to evaluate whether that price is too high. But if Mars wanted a driver that would uphold their high standards, they probably should have sponsored David Ragan, Trevor Bayne or Joey Logano.
ReplyDeleteI think M & M's/Mars should pull their sponsorship from Kyle Busch and give it Hornaday! Way better representation.
ReplyDeleteThere's so many examples of NASCAR looking the other way for everyone else then jumps all over Kyle.
ReplyDeleteHere's some examples:
Martinsville truck race when everyone is hitting everyone AFTER the checkered flag on the backstretch and an OFFICIAL IS STANDING ON THE TRACK waving them in and has to run to get out of the way. NASCAR did nothing.
Last year Reutiman takes out Kyle in the chase - nothing.
Carl and Brad multiple times. Got so bad Brad's father says on T.V. "I'm not going to let him kill my boy". NASCAR does nothing. Oh sorry, probation for a few races, whooooo.
C'mon people... 126 wrongs don't make a right. But don't jump all over Kyle when we look the other way all the other times. Kyle got penalized worse than anyone else because NASCAR doesn't like him. Yeah he comes across as a jerk but atleast he doesn't spew out the same sanitized media crap like the other drivers.
NASCAR LOVES Kyle Busch...he's getting more attention than the Tony and Carl Show ;). The boy just need to grow up; it's past time. Man up Kyle..and this is just another case of NASCAR's inconsistency
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