Busch does burnouts and misses the fight!

[DebWilliams-GFN]

Busch does burnouts and misses the fight!
By: Deb Williams


Photo By Jerry Jordan/The Examiner

CONCORD, N.C. (May 24, 2008) – Kyle Busch ended Joe Gibbs Racing's six-race NASCAR Nationwide Series victory streak in Saturday night's CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but it was the confrontation between Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and their crews that stole the attention.

While Busch executed a victory burnout on the frontstretch, Keselowski's and Hamlin's crews engaged in a heated confrontation on pit road. NASCAR officials, anticipating the boiling tempers, immediately attempted to breakup the pushing and shoving match before it erupted into a brawl. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said officials were reviewing the tapes in effort to determine if any punches were thrown. He said if any penalties were issued, they would be announced next week.

The incident that triggered the heated confrontation between the two teams after the event occurred during the 11th caution period. Keselowski and Hamlin were battling for second when the yellow flag waved for a turn-three accident on lap 199 of the scheduled 200-lap race. Under the yellow, Keselowski's Chevrolet hit Hamlin's Toyota in the rear. Then, when Keselowski pulled to the outside, Hamlin swerved his car into Keselowski's left front, denting the fender. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski's car owner, pulled his Chevrolet in behind Hamlin's car, then up beside him to express his dissatisfaction.

“I saw Brad hit him [Hamlin] a little bit under caution and then Denny knocked the fender off is car,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I'm not happy about that. (When I pulled up beside him, I said) what the hell are you doing that for, man! My car is tore all to pieces now.”

Keselowski, who finished third, arrived in the media center for his post-race interview before Hamlin, but was still taking questions when the second-place Hamlin arrived. An empty chair separated the two. Neither one looked at the other. Keselowski said nothing while Hamlin criticized him, but he did respond to most of the questions asked of him.

“My complaint was, and I was fully intending on talking to him [Keselowski] after the race regardless of anything that transpired during the caution,” Hamlin said in the media center with Keselowski sitting to his left. “There's situations where you give a guy 2 inches to let him clear and then don't hang on his right-rear quarter panel because they get frustrated, then they get pissed off, and they're going to race you hard.

“I said at the end of that race, I want to do whatever it takes to make the 88's [Keselowski] job the hardest to get around me. I'll block to let the 32 [Kyle Busch] win if I have to because of the way he raced me earlier in the race. If a guy has got everything but 2 inches on me, let him go because he's got there for a reason and I got there many times on him earlier in the race. Then he would slide up in the middle and then he would get a good run off the corner, but besides that, it was almost at the end of the race and I had a great run on the top of him. I was up there next to his door and he slid up all the way from the bottom, all the way to the top and cut my nose off. That pisses drivers off and I learned as a rookie that if you make a guy that's been doing this a little bit longer and you make their job hard, then they're going to make yours 10 times harder. Brad has enough talent to be in this Cup Series, no doubt he'll be there in a few years, but I don't know if it's just these short races that he's been in ... you just shouldn't race like that. You can, but it will hurt you in the future.”

When Hamlin was asked if he felt justified in hitting Keselowski under the yellow flag, Hamlin replied, “Ask him first. I retaliated. I didn't retaliate based on what happened earlier in the race.”

Even though Keselowski was asked, he never responded as to why he hit Hamlin in the rear during the caution period. However, he did explain why he conducted “hard core racing.”

“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 I can to prove myself. To prove myself not only to Junior Motorsports, but to the Navy [sponsor] and my competitors and fans, and I have to make the most of every lap.”

Busch, who followed Hamlin and Keselowski in the media center, admitted it felt “pretty good” not to be the center of attention after winning a race.

“I'm happy about that and it's probably the biggest reason I'm smiling here tonight,” Busch said after giving Braun Racing its first victory this season. “It was a good clean run for us tonight. We got back in traffic a couple times and didn't know how good our car was going to be, but we were able to make some moves on the top side and get through traffic. We never got into anybody, we never ruffled any feathers or nothing.”

Busch, who led three times for 86 laps en route to his fourth Nationwide Series victory this year, lost seven positions during the sixth caution period when there were problems with the jack during his pit stop. He restarted the race in eighth.

When Busch regained the lead for good on lap 164, there was some question as to whether his car had enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag, especially when the race was forced into a green-white-checker finish.

“I was concerned a little bit,” Busch admitted, “but every caution we had there I was fortunate because I could shut the motor off and make a whole lap around under caution without the motor running. That gained us about two laps right there every time the caution came out. Then I just rode around in fourth gear, chugging along behind the pace truck. Fortunately for us, we were able to make it with some burnouts.”

It was the 10th race in which Busch has led the most laps.
The Busch Series moves to Dover, Del., next weekend for another Saturday race.