Well this has to be up there in the sporting opportunities wasted list.

For the sake of this discussion, let's say Penske feels Hornish isn't ready to get back in a full-time Cup ride next year....

Would he be desperate enough to rehire Kurt Busch, assuming he avoids any behavioral fuckups the rest of this season?

Personally speaking, I'd gamble on Bayne over Logano and Kurt.

I think that is really going to depend on the circumstances of his positive result though. If he has some addiction issue or took something knowingly, then yeah it's a big waste of an opportunity. If it was a weird issue done unknowingly, then I think it's a bit unfair to judge AJ with that level of severity.

Whatever the case, I think its worth mentioning that he has handled this very maturely, especially in comparison to Mayfield. He's found a way to defend himself without casting himself as some victim of lies and deception. Plus he's already enrolled in the program to regain eligibility, so he's been nothing but cooperative.



By the way, if you want to talk about the top of the list of "sporting opportunities wasted" you'll have to consider guys like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Bias

Regardless of whether he's a doper or not, it's still the result of stupidity and can be accurately considered an opportunity wasted. Wouldn't you expect sports professionals paid this much to know every item that goes onto or in their body and steer clear of the ones that might come close to the banned substance list?

Also agree that AJ has handled it relatively well, but he's still boned. He might get a ride in trucks to finish out his career if he's lucky.