Pemberton responds to penalties dealt to Busch

LONG POND, Pa. -- Moments after NASCAR announced the penalties handed down to Kurt Busch following Monday's pit-road incident with Tony Stewart, the question on everyone's lips Friday at Pocono Raceway was, "Why wasn't Busch suspended?"

After all, Kevin Harvick earned a trip to NASCAR's "penalty box" in 2002, sitting out the Cup race for rough driving during a Craftsman Truck Series race earlier that weekend.

Busch penalized

Kurt Busch was penalized 100 points and fined $100,000 for his Dover actions on pit road.

• Complete story, click here
• Pemberton responds to penalty
• Busch thought he would sit out
• Pate: Penalty doesn't fit crime
• Garage mixed on penalty

NASCAR vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton, said a suspension was considered but felt "the 100-point penalty and $100,000 was substantial." In addition, Busch was saddled with a 42nd-place finish after NASCAR parked the No. 2 Dodge for the rest of the race at Dover (watch video).

"There's a reason why we don't do immediate penalties," Pemberton said. "We get together with our group and talk about it. We looked at a lot of different options and that was on the table at one time."

So how close did Busch come to missing this weekend's race?

"I won't say that it was close," Pemberton replied. "With our group, when we sit down as we do for every penalty, some take a little bit longer to get our arms around.

"It took two and a half days to work this thing out and do what was best for ourselves, Roger Penske and his group and Kurt Busch and the people that were on pit road."

Pemberton said he was in contact with key Penske Racing officials during the week, discussing the situation with vice chairman Walter Czarnecki and president Don Miller. Pemberton added NASCAR's highest priority is the safety of everyone in the pits.

"Accidents do happen and we don't need to put ourselves in the position to allow an accident to happen like that," he said. "The safety issues, particularly on pit road where the crew members are wearing fire suits and safety helmets, we have to take care of them."

Pemberton said he had another meeting with Busch scheduled Friday morning, apparently to impress upon him the severity of his transgressions.

"We just talked briefly after the race and we'll talk some more this morning," he said.