Spencer suspended for Bristol.

Winston Cup veteran Jimmy Spencer has been suspended for one week and fined $25,000 by NASCAR after punching Kurt Busch in the face shortly after Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

Cited under the NASCAR rulebook for 'Actions detrimental to Stock Car Racing' and getting involved in an altercation with a fellow competitor off the racetrack', Spencer is now set to miss Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway and has been placed on probation by NASCAR until December 31st. Busch was also placed on probation until the end of the season but escaped a fine and suspension.

While the fine is almost inconsequential based on the massive prize money and salaries afforded by most Winston Cup drivers (Spencer's career NWC prize money amounts to more than $15 Million), the fact that Spencer is now set to miss next Saturday's race at Bristol is a major blow to Jim Smith's #7 Ultra Motorsports team and its driver, who regards the half-mile oval as one of his favorites.

Ironically Bristol is the place where most of the ill-feeling Spencer harbors towards Busch stems from after the Roush Racing driver punted Spencer out of the way while the then Chip Ganassi Racing driver was on course for his first Winston Cup win in some seven years in last March's Food City 500. Spencer went on to finish second.

In the last two Winston Cup races at Bristol Spencer has finished eighth and 12th although in this year's Food City 500, 'Mongo' showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels until having to make a late race green flag pitstop.

Spencer and Busch were battling for the lead in last Sunday's race when Busch unsettled the rear end of Spencer's #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge as the pair came off turn four at the sweeping two-mile MIS oval. Although contact was minimal, the loss of momentum cost Spencer the lead and second place and after the added disappointment of having to stop for a late race splash and go, which dropped the #7 team to 26th in the final order, the situation was exacerbated when Busch's car ran out of fuel directly in front of Spencer and the #7 garage after the race had finished.

"I ran out of gas when I got into the garage area, and Jimmy Spencer ran into the back of my car," explained Busch on Monday. "I was still in the car when he approached me with obvious anger. Words were exchanged, but I was still strapped in my seat with my helmet off when he struck me in the face. He broke my tooth and bloodied my nose."

Roush Racing owner Jack Roush said his team planned on appealing the decision to place Busch on probation.

"It is incomprehensible to me that NASCAR used this incident to place Kurt Busch on probation," said the veteran team owner. "His only involvement in the "altercation" was to be the recipient of a blow struck by an individual that is twice his size. Drivers, as do others in the garage, often exchange heated words, and in my memory no one has even been penalized for words spoken in private to one another. We intend to promptly file an appropriate appeal against this penalty, although we have learned that the merits of an argument carry little weight in this particular form of appeal.

"On the other hand, I think that NASCAR's sanctions on Jimmy Spencer should be enough to give a sobering pause to any driver or other individual that might think the halo of competition can conceal an assault on any individual, whether on or off the race track. It is a step in the right direction. I hope that it is enough."

Spencer, for his part, will also appeal the suspension, which rules him out of all three NASCAR sanctioned events scheduled for this coming weekend.

"I will always protect myself and my race team," stated the Berwick, Pennsylvania native. "We are going to appeal the penalty, and we are going to do so in accordance to the NASCAR rulebook."

Busch finished 18th in Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400, Spencer 26th.