NASCAR suspends Kurt Busch indefinitely

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR has suspended driver Kurt Busch for an indefinite period of time, effective immediately, which means he will not be in Sunday's Daytona 500.

"Given the serious nature of the findings and conclusions made by the Commissioner of the Family Court of the State of Delaware, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended Kurt Busch, effective immediately," NASCAR said in a statement. "He will not be allowed to race nor participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice."

The former champion and current driver for Stewart-Haas has spent the last six months embroiled in a dispute with his former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. The precipitating event was an incident at Dover last fall in which Busch allegedly choked Driscoll. During that Sept. 26 incident at Busch's motor home, Busch claimed he simply "cupped her head" and she struck her head by accident, while Driscoll claimed she was choked and thrown into a wall.

In the subsequent protective order hearing, Driscoll and Busch threw increasingly severe charges at one another, with Busch saying Driscoll claimed she was a trained assassin. In the end, the court sided with Driscoll, approving a protective order against Busch. Still unresolved are criminal charges against Busch; local police have completed their report but no charges against Busch have been filed.

Busch's attorney fought back on Thursday, seeking to reopen the protective order and charging that Driscoll had perjured herself. On Friday, Kent County commissioner David Jones released a report that indicated Busch's "actions on that occasion constituted conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening or harmful."

NASCAR had waited for further outside confirmation before taking action. Domestic violence issues have surged to the forefront of sports in recent months, largely as a result of the NFL's inconsistent punishment of violators such as Ray Rice, and the last perception any league needs to have is that it doesn't take domestic violence seriously enough. The Friday release of the highly critical report left NASCAR with no real option but to levy some form of punishment on Busch.

Stewart-Haas has reportedly retained Regan Smith to run in the Daytona 500 and future events in place of Busch.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.

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