#99-Kyle Busch was forced to give up the seat in his Roush Racing Ford Truck at California Speedway after weekend sponsor Marlboro objected to the 16-year-old driver racing in the CTS race there. “He didn’t qualify today and possibly he might not race,” said Kevin Triplett, director of operations for NASCAR. The objection from Marlboro was based on an interpretation of the agreement between big tobacco companies and state attorneys general that precludes the involvement of persons under 18 years old in events sponsored by the companies. Marlboro is the overall sponsor of the weekend that includes the Auto Club 200 truck race Saturday and the Toyota 500 CART race and the Dayton Indy Lights event Sunday. Busch, the younger brother of current Winston Cup rookie Kurt Busch, was replaced in the truck by Tim Woods, who has driven Winston West stock car events for Jack Roush’s team. Representatives of the sponsor, the team, NASCAR and California Speedway met for 31/2 hours Friday without resolving the situation. However, Roush agreed to replace Busch in the truck at least for qualifying while the discussions continued.(That’s Racin’/AP)(11-3-2001)
