 Photos by Kenny Moore
Drivers heat things up at Richmond Saturday NASCAR notes
The ‘boys’ are back in town
The heat was on during the final lap of the Lipton Iced Tea 250 Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. With eventual race winner Denny Hamlin pulling away from Kevin Harvick down the stretch, the battle for third between Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace turned out to be one that carried from the track to pit road afterward.
Coming out of turn two on the final lap, Wallace’s Atreus Homes & Communities car got the upper hand on Busch in the Hass Avocados From Mexico Toyota.
“Steven Wallace got a better run on the corner than I did,” Busch said. “Instead of pulling out and passing, he hit me in the back end, jacked me up, jacked me sideways.”
Busch made a brilliant recovery and by the time the pair reached turn three Busch was on Wallace’s bumper.
“He probably knew I was going to spin him out so he moved up the track and let me go by him and we came home third,” Busch said. “Instead of him passing me clean and ending up third, he ended up fifth.”
Following the race, a still irritated Busch marched down pit road and leaned into Wallace’s car to confront him. Wallace reacted by grabbing hold of Busch’s helmet by the lower face plate opening. The two were then separated by Busch’s pit crew and the physical confrontation came to an end. However, the verbal battle was only getting started.
When asked to describe the incident during an interview shortly afterward, Busch’s comments were heated. “Well, basically it’s a boy trying to play in a man’s sport and I don’t play those games,” he said. “We’re going to fight if it comes down to it. If he wants to play that kind of game then that’s what we’re going to play.”
Wallace indicated that the on-track contact was just a part of racing. “Just running the race and got into the back of him on turn two,” he said. But Wallace obviously did not take kindly to Busch’s comments that were broadcast over the track PA system. “If he wants to say something like that, then he can come down here and say it in my face.”
At least one bystander was greatly amused by the interaction between Busch and Wallace. Harvick, a driver whose past has included similar confrontations, was enjoying the show. “I’m into the excitement back here,” Harvick said. “Boys calling each other boys. I enjoyed it. It’s not me so it’s pretty funny.”
Busch’s reaction to the incident was particularly ironic after being asked earlier in the day if he had mellowed. “I guess that’s what I’ve heard,” Busch said. “I feel like maybe I’m a little more easy-going.”
Even more ironic, it was Busch’s birthday.
Another ironic aspect of the Busch-Wallace battle was that earlier in the day several drivers talked about temper on the racetrack.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, was asked if he could recall the maddest he has ever gotten during a race. “There’s so many of those times, it’s hard to pick just one, to be honest,” he said.
Clint Bowyer concurred with Stewart’s reaction. “I get mad a lot,” he said but added that he has learned to control his anger. “No different than you on the highway. If you went out and crashed everybody on the highway you probably wouldn’t have a license. If we crashed them every time we got mad out here on the race track, we’d probably be asked not to come back.”
Though known for his temper, Stewart also offered advice on how drivers can get their anger under control. “The best thing you can do, whether it’s key the mike and scream at somebody or whatever you have to do, the best thing to do is just get it out so you can set a reset button and get focused again,” he said. “That’s the most productive thing you can do. The hard part is shortening the duration that you’re mad, the longer you’re mad, the longer you’re not productive in the car.”
“You’ve got to look at the big picture,” Bowyer said. “If somebody gets into you or ruffles you up a little bit, you got to be smarter than to get upset and you know what the big picture is and that’s the finish at the end of the day.”
A prevalent topic of discussion with the drivers was the ever-growing popularity of winners’ celebratory burnouts.
Jeff Gordon attempted to recall when the fad got its start. “We used to just drive to victory lane,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t remember. It may have been Kevin Harvick at Atlanta. Somebody did it and the crowd went nuts.”
Mark Martin said the art of burn-outs came to his attention in CART racing with Alex Zanardi. “Zanardi did them big time,” Martin said. “If he was winning every week and he was doing them like crazy and that’s where it seemed to have started from.” From Zanardi, the fad quickly made the transition to NASCAR.
“It seemed like the guys…television liked it,” Gordon said. “NASCAR liked it, people just started liking it and then if you didn’t do it, they were like booing you.”
With so many drivers doing burnouts, it has in some ways become an art form.
And the perfect burnout? “Well, obviously lots of smoke,” Gordon said. “I don’t know, donuts, smoke. If you can get the fire burning off the tires, that is usually pretty good too. I have never been very good at burnouts, I have done a few good ones. If you can do a burnout and slide the car, you know, keep the car sliding sideways through the corner or down the straightaway, something like that. That can be good.”
“I think they’re pretty juvenile,” Martin said. “It would embarrass me to do one because I would think that was either being a copycat or it was something to be expected. From these kids, if they didn’t do it, it would probably embarrass them so that’s what you do today.”
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