[tiereenny]

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/...e-johnson-2011

Five NASCAR Drivers Decline President Obama's White House Invitation

UPDATE: Busch said Friday he will attend the White House visit after all.

by Jeff Gluck • Sep 1, 2011 10:37 PM EDT

President Barack Obama will honor NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the 11 other Chase drivers from last year in a White House ceremony on Wednesday – but nearly half of the 2010 playoff contenders won't be there.

NASCAR said Thursday that five drivers – Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart – will not be attending the White House visit due to "schedule conflicts."

They must be very busy people. Regardless of one's political views, the president is still the president – and an opportunity to speak with the leader of the free world is a rare and special one.

You'd think whatever photo shoots or sponsor appearances these drivers have lined up on Wednesday afternoon – if that's indeed the reason – could be rescheduled. After all, this is the President of the United States we're talking about here.

For a sport that prides itself on patriotism, having so many drivers turn down the president's invitation simply seems strange.

Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth will attend.

[janeemljr]

This isn't like inviting the Super Bowl or the World Series winners to the White House, where the group functions pretty much as a team in season and out, and often visit the White House while their seasons are in play. This is NASCAR, and if you look at its history, drivers seldom are expected to do anything together outside of race and commercials within their ownership groups or NASCAR's official sponsors.

When you give somebody about a week's notice on something, when you have such atight schedule as NASCAR drivers, it's often hard to change plans. Let's not forget either that Edwards, Biffle and Stewart are the three of the four not attending this year who did attend the same function in 2009. Only Harvick seems to be the no-show.

And let's be honest, if just one of the drivers attending complained about having to go to the event, you'd blame Obama for making them attend, just as you complain about so many functions which aren't strictly related to governing.

And note I say three of four: Busch is scheduled to attend. The writer, in all his slanted attempts at the slam, didn't bother to check his facts that Busch was only speculated to not show up, or that he is in fact expected to be there. I know news sometimes travels slowly in them thair hills. But "nearly half not attending" doesn't sound as venomous as "two-thirds are attending," which is the obvious point the writer is trying to make.

My question is why did Bush ignore NASCAR so from 2001-2008? The champions were honored in the years before Bush, and during Obama's tenure, but not during the Bush years. And Bush honored the champions of the other major sports in the country during his time in office. I can only guess Bush was embarassed by NASCAR? I'd like the author's opinion on that.

[Romobencience]

By the way, you change between four and five drivers in your headline and text. Did you do your Rush duty and post your piece, only to go find a more damning article?