Biffle's win caps weak weekend for NASCAR

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It's a good thing NASCAR's race Sunday at the Kansas Speedway took place in the Land of Oz, because the sanctioning body will need a wizard to straighten out the mess from this weekend.

From Tony Stewart's expletive on national television to Kyle Busch's illegal manifold in Saturday's Busch race to Sunday's controversial and confusing Nextel Cup race ending, it was a weekend NASCAR would like to forget.

Crew chief Gil Martin says his driver, Clint Bowyer, should have been declared Sunday's winner. (Getty Images)

The world should be focused on NASCAR at this time of the year to watch an exciting Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. Instead the sanctioning body is left to explain itself after three curious rulings in Kansas.

First there was Stewart's latest indiscretion, which took place during Saturday morning's Cup practice session. When an ESPN2 television crew approached Stewart, who was having a conversation with Robby Gordon, he used a vulgar four-letter word in asking the photographer to get away.

The obscenity was clearly heard by the network's live television audience, which in the past has meant an automatic fine and penalty for any driver. Stewart -- already on probation for his critical comments aimed at NASCAR earlier this year when he compared the sport to professional wrestling -- was hit with a 25-point fine and $25,000 fine in August when he swore in his postrace interview at the Allstate 400.

So most everyone felt the wrath of NASCAR would come down on Stewart given the history.

Not so fast.

NASCAR spokesperson Jim Hunter told reporters Sunday he didn't expect anything to come from the incident.

"At the present time, I don't think there will be any penalties coming down as a result," Hunter said. "There were some very unusual circumstances surrounding that incident. We will just move on."

Whether the FCC and ESPN2 move on remains to be seen, since the rules of using obscene words on television are pretty clear. But in NASCAR's world, all's well.

Which takes us to Saturday's Busch Series race, an exciting affair that came down to a thrilling final-laps duel between Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Busch took the checkered flag after a side-by-side duel to the finish line and the sell-out crowd left after witnessing one of the best races of the year. But long after the crowd was gone, the media had left and the last hot dog wrapper was picked up in the grandstands, NASCAR announced there was something amiss with the intake manifold on Busch's winning car.

The part in question, which somehow passed pre-race inspection, was suddenly unapproved during the postrace technical review.

Hendrick Motorsports vice president Doug Duchardt said that an intake manifold that should have been a twin of the one used Saturday had been inspected for two days at the NASCAR Research and Development Center earlier in the week.