Kyle Busch's Nationwide win overshadowed by massive fight on pit road

By Jerry Jordan

Motorsports Editor

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch was a dominant force for much of the CarQuest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, leading 86 of 200 laps. But as Busch was trying to celebrate his win with a burnout on the fronthstretch, the cameras 

were trained on pit road and everyone's attention was focused on the fight that broke out between the No. 88 JR Motorsports team driven by Brad Keselowski, who finished third,

 and the team of the No. 20 Z-Line Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin for Joe Gibbs Racing, who finished second.

Hamlin took a cheap shot at Keselowski under the final caution of the evening and bashed in the front right fender of Keselowski's Chevrolet by turning into him. And when the race was over Keselowski's crew went over to the No. 20 car and all hell broke loose. Several people were knocked around as race officials and crew members tried to separate their teammates. 

After the melee, both teams, the drivers and the crew chiefs along with several other people were summoned to the NASCAR Nationwide Series hauler.

Asked why he hit Keseloski under caution, Hamlin replied, "I retaliated, I gave him right back everything that he gave me," claiming that Keselowski had hit him first."Well, my complaint was, and I was fully intending on talking to him after the race regardless of what happened," Hamlin said. "But there are situations where … just give a guy two inches to let him clear and don't hang on his right rear quarter panel

because it just gets frustrating. Then the guys get pissed off and he races too hard. I said at the end of that race that I was going to do whatever it takes to make that 88's job the hardest to get around me. I will block to let the No. 32 win if I have to because of the way he race me earlier in the race. If a guy has got everything but two inches on me let him go because he's got there for a reason.

"There are many times that I would let him go earlier in the race. He'd slide up in the middle and I would get him in the corner. Besides that it was almost to the end of the race. I had a great run on him and he slid all the way up from the bottom to the top and cut my nose off and that pisses drivers off. That pisses drivers off and I learned as a rookie, if you make a guy who's been doing this a little harder, if you make their job hard they are gonna make yours 10 times harder. Brad's got enough talent to be in the (Sprint) Cup Series and he will be there in a few years. But, I don't know if it is just these short races that he has been in but you just can't, you shouldn't race like that. You can but it will hurt you in the future."

Hamlin did say that he did not condone his crew fighting with the No. 88 team after the race.

"Those guys look out for each other every week on pit road, they don't need to be down here fighting," Hamlin said.

Keselowski saw the on-track incident differently than Hamlin and believes that he has to take advantage of every opportunity that he can to win a race. He did not say if he hit Hamlin under the caution flag.

"I race one day a week. I don't race twice a week," Keselowski said. " I have one day a week to prove myself. I have 200 laps, not 400. I have 200. I have to take every opportunity that I have to prove myself, prove myself to JR Motorsports, prove myself to the NAVY and I make the most of every lap."

Kerry Tharp, NASCAR's Director of Communications for Competition, said, NASCAR is reviewing all available video and could make a ruling next week regarding any penalties that might result from the pit road incident.

Brian Vickers puts No. 10 Toyota on pole for Nationwide Series race

He was the last to go out but his efforts paid off as Brian Vickers put the No. 10 Toyota Camry on the pole for Saturday night's CarQuest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

For most of the qualifying round, David Ragan sat in the top spot in the No. 6 Discount Tires Ford. 

Joe Gibbs Racing announces Joey Lagano as Nationwide Series driver

Joe Gibbs Racing has just announced that Joey Logano will pilot the No. 20 JGR Toyota, sponsored by GameStop of Grapevine, Tx. in the upcoming race at Dover International Speedway.

The announcement was made on Logano's 18th birthday in the Time Warner Media Center at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Gibbs said Logano represents the future of JGR.

"We are excited," Gibbs said. "It is very important for us. I think Joey is a part of that for us and as we look down the road it's exciting. We have ben waiting and preparing and hopefully for us, this is something that could go for 20 years. The most important thing for us is to make sure we are not putting too much pressure on Joey. Whatever the timing is, we are committed and Toyota is committed." 

Lagano has been testing for JGR for some time but was not eligible to run in any Nationwide Series races because he had not yet turned 18. That changed on Saturday.

"I have been waiting on this birthday to come forever," Logano said.

Asked if he was under extreme pressure coming into the Nationwide Series, considering the No. 20 car's dominance, he said he was up to it and wants to run up front.

"I definitely have one of the best cars," Logano said. "I would rather be in a car that I know can win races. Yeah, there's pressure but I would rather have a shot at winning races than running 20th. I feel like I am ready to go out there and win races."

Two Haas Racing cars confiscated by NASCAR

After responding to a report from others in the garage that the No. 66 and No. 70 Haas Racing machines had illegally mounter upper wing brackets, NASCAR officials went to the garage, inspected the two cars and then confiscated them.

The two teams will have to go to their backup cars, if they are legal, and start from the back of the field.

Kerry Tharp, NASCAR Director of Communications for Competition, said the additional penalties could be announced later this week. When asked how NASCAR became aware of the infractions since cars are not typically inspected before Saturday practice, Tharp said, "It was brought to our attention, we followed up and we took the two cars. The garage is a fairly self policing area and we follow up on information we get and we are constantly inspecting racecars and that was the situation with this."

A few pics from Coca-Cola 600 Pole Day

Kyle Busch gets another pole

Last weekend, Kyle Busch sat on the pole for the Sprint All Star Race and apparently crew chief Steve Addington didn't forget what he did to accomplish that feat. Busch's speed of 185.433 mph was 33-one-hundredths faster than Kasey Kahne's but it was enough to grab the top starting spot in the Coca-Cola 600.

After his run, Busch said he wasn't happy with the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota after practice and went to talk with Addington about what changes might need to be made.

"Whatever it was it worked," Busch said. "I am not sure exactly what they did."

Kentucky Speedway now belongs to Bruton Smith

Well, I guess officially Kentucky Speedway belongs to Speedway Motorsports Inc. but Smith is the front man for the publicly traded company and he was the one that made the big announcement an hour ago in the Time Warner Media Center at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

And the even bigger news is that Smith has promised that he is bringing a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to the track in 2009. In typical Smith fashion, he did not say where that race would come from or when it would be run. SMI already operates six NASCAR-sanctioned tracks with 13 Sprint Cup dates.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to grow into a new market in a modern speedway facility," Smith said.

One thing is for sure, it won't be coming from Texas Motor Speedway. Eddie Gossage confirmed that, although he wants a new date for his fall race, he is not worried about giving one up and not getting one in return.

"We are the top performing track," Gossage told The Examiner and Kickin' the Tires. "We sell more tickets than any other SMI track."

No details were released on the amount of the sale to SMI but Jerry Carroll said the original backers did not recoup their $80 million investment.

"I had a dream in this speedway and the state of Kentucky had a dream on this speedway and fortunately, Bruton SMith has made that dream come true," Carroll said. "The state has $90 million into this. We have been in this for eight years. I have four partners that have been very generous.  (But) we did not recoup the investment. He (Smith) purchased the assets, he did not purchase our company."

Carroll's investment group is involved in a heated legal battle with NASCAR alleging that the sanctioning body and its sister company International Speedway Corp. unfairly prevent certain tracks from obtaining a Sprint Cup race. Carroll said that lawsuit does not go away with this sale.

"The litigation will continue on as long as we think there is an opportunity to get a level playing field," Carroll said. "It's been eight years and I haven't been able to work with NASCAR one time, so I don't know if it gives us leverage in any way."  

NASCAR news of the day

I said earlier in the week that there was a lot going on behind the scenes this week in Charlotte and in the past 48-hours we have learned that H.A. 'Humpy' Wheeler is out as COO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. and president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway; Jimmy Elledge is out at Chip Ganassi Racing as crew chief for Juan Pablo Montoya, and now, we have been told that Regan Smith's crew chief Doug Richert on the No. 01 Chevrolet is making a sudden departure from Dale Earnhardt Inc. The word is that the decision was based on performance and that he is now looking for work in a variety of areas.

In other news, Roush-Fenway Racing has announced that insurance carrier AFLAC has signed to be the primary sponsor of the No. 99 Ford Fusion for three years beginning in 2009.

No word on where former sponsor Office Depot is going for sure but there is speculation that they will wind up on the No. 00 at Michael Waltrip Racing.

Finally, Yates Racing has announced that it has signed Lumber Liquidators as the primary sponsor for the No. 28 during this weekend's Coca-Cola 600.

A busy week in the Charlotte area

I have cut this out of the print version of Kickin' the Tires in order to make room for the breaking story that H.A. 'Humpy' Wheeler was retiring from Lowe's Motor Speedway after 32-years. It is a brief overview of how things have been going for the past week and some of the things that are still to come for this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

On Monday, I was given the grand tour of Richard Childress Vineyards. I am not known to drink but the place is phenomenal.

When you think of NASCAR you probably don’t think of the wine and cheese crowd but Childress has done it up right. The winery is top-notch and has won more than 120 awards for best wine in just four years. Check out the pictures from the fermentation and barrel rooms. A little known fact that I did not know — the French oak barrels used for wine, cost $800 apiece. There were hundreds of them at Childress Vineyards.

On Tuesday, I was at Kyle and Pattie Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp for the unveiling of the Kurt Busch Superdome and at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville for the 9th Annual MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder Showdown.
I will have a much larger story later on about the Victory Junction Gang Camp but for now, I can tell you that this has to be one of the neatest places I have ever been to. It was the grand opening of the Kurt Busch Superdome, an indoor arena that will be used for kickball, whiffleball, dodgeball and other games. It is climate controlled and state of the art. 

Busch was there along with teammates Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish Jr. Also on hand were Kyle Petty and The King Richard Petty and some big football player that I should probably know who plays for the Charlotte Panthers. I was lucky enough to interview The King, who donated 72 acres of land in order to build the camp in memory of his late grandson Adam Petty, who was killed at the former New Hampshire International Raceway.Then it was off to the 9th Annual MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown. Dennis Borem and Darrell Hoffman from Pro Motor Engines built a 357-cubic inch engine from the block up in 15 minutes and 59 seconds. 

To win the competition, the engine had to stay running for 60-seconds after being cranked and upon teardown could not have any loose or missing parts. Borem’s and Hoffman’s engine was perfect, even though it did smoke out the exhaust header a little bit.

The dynamic engine-building duo will split the $26,000 first place prize. Second place finishers, Jim Snyder and Mike Kasch from Roush Yates Racing Engines had a time of 17 minutes and 14 seconds. The Roush Yates team had a little bit of excitement as flames shot about two feet out of the intake when they first tried to crank the engine. It was quickly extinguished and ran like a top, it was just finished a little slower than the PME team.
I am writing this week’s column on Tuesday because Wednesday is going to be an especially busy day. I will spend most of the afternoon at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord with NASCAR’s Kerry Tharpe, Director of Communications for Competition. You can look for an update on that visit on kickinthetires.net and in a later edition of the print version of The Examiner Newspaper.

Humpy Wheeler: 'No, this is not a publicity stunt ... It's time to go.'

I am sitting here in the Time Warner Media Center at Lowe's Motor Speedway along with dozens of other reporters awaiting the announcement that H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler will retire as track president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"No, this is not a publicity stunt. I didn't do this to sell tickets but if it does that is okay," Wheeler said as he was honored with a standing ovation by everyone in the media center."

Wheeler said he looks back on the past 32 years and said it has been fun but certainly it had challenges.

CONCORD, N.C. — After a 1 hour and 15 minute press conference where Lowe's Motor Speedway President and General Manager H.A. 'Humpy' Wheeler announced his impending retirement, there were likely more answered questions than there were answered ones.

Sure, everyone heard about Humpy's past experiences and how he will miss some parts of the sport and not others. Sure, the racing community knew now, if they didn't already, that Humpy Wheeler is a one-of-a-kind track promoter. In fact, he was the first to ever completely light a 1.5-mile superspeedway. He was also the first in NASCAR to attempt to implement softer wall technology following the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. And, he has probably blown up and had more intense pyrotechnic shows to promote racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway that any five track promoters in the country. Wheeler is also known for his big heart and for helping many racecar drivers over the years, including Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt and a list of others too numerous to go into.

What fans, and the room full of media members, are still unclear of is why Humpy Wheeler decided to retire.

Wheeler entered the media center to a standing ovation by the press and employees of Lowe's Motor Speedway and in typical fashion brought guffaws from the crowd.

"No, this is not a publicity stunt. I didn't do this to sell tickets but if it does that's okay," Wheeler said. "It is just one of those things that it is time to go. It is not anything that I am really looking forward to but there comes a time and place when you have to move one. I have a lot of other things that I want to do. I just signed a deal last week with a major author, no it's not David Poole, to do a very unique book about racing and the meteoric rise of NASCAR. I want to resume The Humpy Show on the Speed Channel and I look forward to charing the Charlotte Regional Partnership. And, to spending time with my family and friends."

Wheeler said that he hasn't had time to spend with his family and race promoting and running the speedway had become a seven-day-a-week job. The 69-year-old Wheeler said, "I think I have a few years left and I am going to have fun for those few years. Looking back over the past 32-years it's been fun but there certainly has been some challenges. There's been dark times and light times and there been a lot of just ordinary times. The big thing has been the involvement with people."

Listening closely to the answers he provided to reporters when questioned about why he was leaving one could assume that this was not all of his doing. Noticeably absent from the announcement was SMI Chairman of the Board Bruton Smith. And while this announcement wasn't about Smith, one might think that he would at least show up.

When asked if this decision to retire was his own or whether it "was encouraged" by someone outside, Wheeler responded, "some of it is on my own terms. I won't say it all is but I will let it rest at that."

Wheeler said he began talking about his retirement with Smith about six months ago, "and one thing led to another."

Wheeler said he has many projects that he wants to complete and running Lowe's Motor Speedway and promoting races has gotten harder and harder.

"There is no way to do a job like this without spending about 25 or 26 weekends working. It can become seven days a week and that takes a toll over time," he said.

Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage told The Examiner, "don't be too cynical."

"I am not (aware of anything)," Gossage said. "I am close to both Humpy and Bruton, so I don't think there is anything to that. I am certain that is not the case because I think he made this decision several months ago. It has been known for some time. But I will tell you that I first met Humpy 28-years ago and he hasn't changed one bit. He is in great physical shape and he looks just like he did 28-years ago. he works out constantly. he is a bicyclist and boxes almost daily. He is just in great shape so I am certain there is no health issue there.

"It could just be that he wants to go write a book and spend time with his wonderful wife Beth and all the things that he said it was."

Gossage said that Wheeler has been a pioneer in NASCAR and has set standards that are still used to this day.

"There are lots of NASCAR fans that don't know Humpy's name but they are NASCAR fans because of Humpy," Gossage said. "I think he has played as big a role in building this sport as the France Family has, which obviously is significant. Humpy, in tandem with Bruton Smith, completely changed what a racing event was all about starting in the mid-1970s. And, it took a while and they really took off and set the standard and that is what all of us play off of today. There's a lot of things that started over there in Charlotte that all of us do as routine. Clearly, that racetrack, under Humpy, has been the pioneer."

Gossage also said that whomever is selected to replace Wheeler, it won't be him because he likes being at Texas Motor Speedway.

"As the news release said the board of directors will meet next week and determine who his successor will be but I have no interest in going back to North Carolina," Gossage said. "I am perfectly happy where I am at."