NASCAR: Kurt Busch suspension upheld

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NASCAR's suspension of Kurt Busch has been upheld on appeal. Busch will remain on indefinite suspension and miss Sunday's Daytona 500 unless he gains a last-minute reprieve by another appeal, which is expected to be made this evening.

"We are very disappointed that our appeal was rejected by NASCAR's appeal panel," Busch's legal team said in a statement. "We are re-appealing immediately. We are confident that Kurt will be vindicated and he will be back racing."

The final appeals officer is scheduled to be Gulfstream president Bryan Moss. However, even if Busch were to win this appeal, he may not be back in his car tomorrow.

NASCAR had granted Busch an "expedited" appeal of his suspension from competition, which was heard by a three-person panel on Saturday. Busch presented his own position to the panel, while Jim Cassidy, Senior Vice President of Racing Operations, represented NASCAR.

NASCAR announced Friday afternoon that Busch has been suspended indefinitely, in the wake of a Delaware family court's finding earlier in the day that "by a preponderance of the evidence" the 36-year-old driver "committed an act of domestic violence" against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll on Sept. 24.

"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 driver Kurt Busch, effective immediately," the sanctioning body said in a statement. "He will not be allowed to race nor participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice.

"Kurt Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing team are fully aware of our position and why this decision was made. We will continue to respect the process and timetable of the authorities involved."

After NASCAR's announcement, Chevrolet also announced it was suspending its involvement with Busch.

"Chevrolet has suspended its relationship with Kurt Busch indefinitely," Jim Campbell, Chevrolet vice president of Motorsports and Performance Vehicles," said in a statement. "We will continue to monitor the events surrounding Mr. Busch and are prepared to take additional action if necessary."

Kent County (Delaware) Commissioner David Jones ruled Friday that "it is more likely than not" that Busch "committed an act of abuse" against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll during their dispute last Sept. 26, 2014, at Dover International Speedway.

In the full ruling in favor of Driscoll's request for a protective order barring Busch from contacting her, Jones said Busch "committed an act of domestic violence" against Driscoll "by manually strangling her by placing his left hand on her throat, while placing his right hand on her chin and face and smashing her head into the wall of his motor home, thereby recklessly placing (Driscoll) in reasonable fear of physical injury."

Jones said that he found Driscoll's version of what happened that evening at Dover more believable, noting that Busch's "version of the events is implausible, does not make sense and is unlikely to be true given the totality of the other evidence admitted at trial."

Busch's attorneys requested on Friday that the protective order case be re-opened, but no ruling on their request has been made.

Busch has not been charged criminally. The Delaware Attorney General's Office, which has had the case since early December, has not decided whether or not Busch will be charged.