DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart said the Stewart-Haas Racing team has a contingency plan ready if Kurt Busch cannot drive in the Daytona 500.

Busch is still waiting to hear whether he will face charges for an alleged Sept. 26 assault of his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll at Dover International Speedway.

Driscoll, who brought her claims to police Nov. 5, alleges that Busch put his hands on her neck and smashed her head against his motor home wall three times. Busch has testified that he cupped her cheeks and repeatedly asked her to leave after she came to his motor home uninvited. The Delaware attorney general's office has not given a timeline on when it will decide whether to charge Busch.

NASCAR officials have indicated that they will wait to see whether charges are filed before disciplining Busch, who also awaits word from a Kent County (Del.) Family Court commissioner on Driscoll's request for a protective order from the 2004 Sprint Cup champion.

"We're waiting to see, and I'm very hopeful we won't have to worry about it," Stewart said Friday. "I feel bad he's in that situation right now, and they're both in that situation. But we have to be smart, and we have to have a plan if it doesn't work out for whatever reason."

Busch said Thursday he knows how NASCAR will discipline him once the courts and the attorney general have made their rulings, but he did not say what that discipline would be. NASCAR chairman Brian France has said that NASCAR would be more aggressive in discipline than it has been in the past on domestic violence issues.

"There's been clarity of what will happen when and if something happens, and it's easy to understand," Busch said Friday. "I feel like we have to wait on the decision from up in Dover, Delaware."

Busch, represented by well-known attorney Rusty Hardin, expressed some frustration with the process, which included two days of testimony in December and two more in January in family court followed by a three-week period (including a one-week extension requested by Hardin) before the attorneys filed closing arguments.

"The days in court and now that we're going close to Day 100 as far as all of the proceedings go, normal situations that happen around these types of situations take 30 minutes, so sometimes preferential treatment [that happens in high-profile cases] can go the wrong way," Busch said. "We all have to be patient. We all have to understand there is a process that we have to respect.

"The fact that no announcement has come out, each day that goes by continues to be good news."

It was during four days of testimony in family court that Busch and Driscoll took the stand, testifying to their version of events. Driscoll portrayed Busch as having battled alcoholism and depression in the weeks leading up to the alleged assault. Busch portrayed Driscoll as a trained assassin who has no reason to fear him.

Gene Haas, co-owner of SHR and whose Haas Automation logo is plastered across Busch's chest on his driver's uniform, has said he has no plans to remove Busch from the car.

"With the team and their support, they've been fantastic, Gene Haas especially," Busch said. "It's amazing to have the comfort level that I have, as well as to have told them the truth and understanding of everything, it's easy to be here and be pumped up about the season that's 10 days away."