NASCAR Media Fired Up About a Blogger Mentioning Kurt Busch's Marital Woes

And then, in 2011, she stopped appearing at the track, and all the NASCAR writers knew something was going on, but nobody wrote about it. Then, Tuesday, one blogger, Jeff Gluck, decided to write about it, but took a poor angle that angered the NASCAR media community:

"After all, I’ve known about Busch’s marital problems, too – and didn’t ask him about it nor write about it until now. And I may have never addressed the topic had Busch not been so public with his new flame by bringing her onto pit road, where the whole NASCAR world – along with the TV cameras – can see what’s happening."

Gluck was roundly mocked and criticized by writers for playing the, “I knew about it, but I didn’t write about it, but now I am going to write about it, without asking him about it” card. One writer even got in a “I don’t get paid by the click” line. Even an ESPN NASCAR guy chided him on twitter!

This is one of those dicey topics that could go either way, and it really depends who you ask. Has the separation/divorce impacted Busch in NASCAR (based on his career stats here, it appears not)? If you’re going to cover Busch’s wedding and mention his wife (I have no idea if the latter is true), then what’s wrong with asking him or writing about the split? Is the large contingent of Kurt Busch fans mourning the split (no clue), and if so, are you doing a disservice to interested readers by not writing about it?

Question to the NASCAR media: If Bill Plaschke can casually drop a rumor into his LA Times column about Pau Gasol after the Lakers were swept by the Mavericks, what’s wrong with mentioning the Busch split? It seems as if the NASCAR media is simply catching up to the NFL and NBA media, where wives/relationships are often mentioned.