NASCAR suspends Musgrave from truck series race

He was also fined after an on-track incident last week with Kelly Bires.

SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

With the NASCAR community still buzzing over the penalties assessed Tuesday to the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, the sanctioning body dropped the hammer a second time.

NASCAR announced Wednesday it has suspended Ted Musgrave for one race because of an on-track incident with Kelly Bires during last week’s Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 Craftsman Truck Series race.

Musgrave will miss Saturday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park. His suspension lasts until July 3. He also was fined $10,000, docked 50 points, which dropped him one spot to seventh in the standings, and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Bud Germain was penalized 50 owner points.

Purposely rammed Bires

NASCAR found Musgrave guilty of purposely hitting another competitor’s truck during a caution period. Musgrave’s truck crashed on lap 75 with Bires’ truck. During the ensuing caution, Musgrave sent Bires’ truck into the outside wall in apparent retaliation. NASCAR parked Musgrave for the night. He was scored 34th, his worst finish of the season. Bires finished 35th.

“We hate that it had to happen, but in the interest of safety, we understand and support NASCAR in their decision to suspend Ted Musgrave from racing this weekend,” Germain Racing general manager Mike Hillman Sr. said in a statement.

Musgrave was out of town at his daughter’s equestrian event and unavailable for comment.

Backup driver

Brad Keselowski will drive the No. 9 Toyota Tundra this weekend.

“We chose Brad because his peers – drivers like Ted Musgrave, Todd Bodine and Mark Martin – all have nothing but good things to say about him,” Hillman said.

“Those guys know how to win races, they are all great racers. It’s definitely an honor to have them on my side,” Keselowski said. “This is a great opportunity for me.”

Keselowski, 23, will be making his 42nd start in the truck series. All but six of his starts came with the family-owned team. His one top-10 finish came at the 2005 season-opener at Daytona, when he finished seventh.