A spokesperson for Stewart-Haas Racing says that the #41 Chevy will compete this weekend at Atlanta but no driver has been confirmed. Regan Smith drove the car to a 16th-place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500 in place of Kurt Busch. NASCAR indefinitely suspended Busch on Friday after a Delaware Family Court Commissioner concluded that “it is more likely than not” that Busch committed an act of domestic abuse against ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll in September. The commissioner made the pronouncement after granting a protective order for Driscoll. Busch lost two appeals to NASCAR on Saturday to get back in the car. A NASCAR spokesperson said the sanctioning body would send guidelines to Busch on what he must do to be reinstated. The #41 car’s primary sponsor for most races is Haas Automation, which is owned by car owner Gene Haas. That led to some questions of it Haas would continue to run the car after Daytona.(NBC Sports)(2-23-2015)
UPDATE: Stewart-Haas Racing has named Regan Smith interim driver of its #41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend Feb. 26-March 1 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Smith will begin driving the #41 car during the open test session on Thursday. The race on Sunday will be Smith’s seventh Sprint Cup start at Atlanta. His most recent Sprint Cup start at the 1.54-mile oval was on Sept. 2, 2012 when he finished 14th. Atlanta will be Smith’s second race in the #41 car. He drove the Haas Automation Chevrolet to a 16th-place finish last Sunday in the Daytona 500. Smith already had some history with Stewart-Haas Racing prior to Daytona. He subbed for Tony Stewart in the team’s #14 car last August at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. An interim driver for the #41 team at next weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and subsequent races has not been determined.(Stewart-Haas Racing)(2-23-2015)(
