Busch Beers

In a shocker, reigning Cup series champion Kurt Busch was suspended by Roush Racing for the remainder of the 2005 season after being cited for reckless driving near Phoenix Internation Raceway on Friday night. But the story is bigger than that. The Maricopa County sheriff's deputy who stopped Busch smelled alcohol on Busch's breath. From ESPN:

"As a result of the roadside investigation the deputy did take Mr. Busch into custody for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol," said Lt. Chagolla. Chagolla said the deputy smelled alcohol on Busch, but the driver refused to perform standard field sobriety tests. Busch did submit to a field breath alcohol test, and the device showed the presence of alcohol. The deputy drove Busch to the raceway, where a sheriff's facility is located, to administer another breath test but the machine there failed. The deputy then decided to cite Busch for reckless driving and he was released, Chagolla said.

The Arizona Republic reports further details. Put some alcohol in Kurt Busch and I'm not surprised to read about this behavior:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a motorcycle deputy saw Busch nearly rear-end another vehicle, speed around it to avoid a crash and blast through a stop sign. He was clocked at 60 mph in a 45 zone. The deputy said he tried to stop him, but Busch kept driving. The deputy called for backup and another deputy helped pull Busch over. Arpaio said Busch insulted the deputy by asking what law enforcement agency he was from and saying, "you ought to be directing traffic." Busch reportedly pulled out his driver's license and NASCAR identification and said, "Don't you know who I am?"

My question is, what exactly caused this "malfunction" of the testing machine at the facility at PIR? The machine most likely "malfunctioned" after NASCAR found out about their champion driver's incident. This is the champion driver who has Crown Royal as one of his sponsors. This is the champion driver who will have a beer sponsor (Miller Brewing) at Penske Racing next season.

NASCAR can't afford to have "champion" linked with "drunk driving" under normal circumstances, never mind when the driver has alcohol sponsors. NASCAR has always walked a fine line when it comes to alcohol sponsorship in a sport all about driving cars, and driving them fast. We'll never know what really happened with that on-site alcohol test, but it's awfully convenient for NASCAR that they will be spared a PR nightmare.