Busch let it all hang out at Richmond
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Friday night was more of a bump-and-run where Saturday night was more of a case where it really could have gone either way. Busch definitely was letting it all hang out because he realized that if he could ever get around Dale Earnhardt Jr., then he could win that race. I think he was probably trying a little too hard and I think Dale misjudged how much to crowd the young man. He didn't cut down on him, but he really pinned him down and didn't give him a clear lane either. So again, it could have gone either way on Saturday night.
I doubt Dale Jr. will ever admit to this, but racing Busch is a lot like racing Dale Sr. When he is there, you have to get ready for contact. He's a contact racer and he is not afraid to make contact. So when you know that, you go into things with your eyes wide open.
We experienced that at Martinsville with the NASCAR Craftsman truck team I co-own that is driven by David Starr. I knew we were going to get roughed up by Kyle before it even happened and I said so on the air. When Kyle is behind you or around you and you give him a crack of daylight, well he is going to try and shoot through it. That is his style of racing. That doesn't make him a bad person. He just wants to win. He is that passionate and he is going to give it his all.
Is Kyle Busch worried about making fans or is he worried about winning races? I think if I had a chance to ask him that question, I would like to hear his answer.
The other controversy from Saturday night was Denny Hamlin stopping on the race track. Denny wasn't stopping to help his teammate, Kyle, catch up to Dale Jr. Denny stopped to try and get a caution to help himself out. That is an old short-track trick. I don't blame him for trying to do it. He clearly had the best car all night. I really think he just did something that works at all short tracks around the country. He was going to lose two laps if he came to pit road to change his flat tire anyways, so the NASCAR penalty was well within reason.
You could not have anymore empathy and feel any sadder for a guy than Denny Hamlin. Actually, there were three guys I felt bad for Saturday night. Denny was number one because he clearly had the car to beat. Number two to me was Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was a sad turn of events for him. It looked like that 71 race, two-year non-winning string was going to finally come to an end and then he and Kyle get together and Dale ends up in the wall. Then the third one you kind of have to have some sympathy for is Kyle Busch.
Again, this is his style of racing and he was racing as hard as he could. All of a sudden he has made Junior Nation mad at him because of how aggressive he is. He is just doing his job and doing what he knows best, which is to try and win all the races at all cost. But know he is going to pay a pretty heavy price in the court of public opinion as far as racing is concerned.
| Speed Mail Jeff Hammond |
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Now let's move over to the Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip issue. It looked to me that Mears and Waltrip were victims of each other. I don't know whether to blame it on Mears and his spotter because Waltrip had on brand-new tires and was making a whale of a run up through the field. I think Mears just misjudged where he was at and cut Waltrip off and put him up in the wall.
I think Waltrip then lost his temper and overreacted. The in-car camera clearly showed that he shoved it up into a lower gear, jacked the kid up and carried him all the way down there until he wrecked him. NASCAR, in my opinion, had to do something about that because it was clearly retaliation. It was nothing more than Waltrip saying, "You wrecked me and now I am going to finish you off."
Friday and Saturday night, to me, clearly showed why you always hear us say that Richmond is one of the best stops on the circuit. We had a lot of action, and in the end, we had a lot of drama. That place is just an ideal track to go to. We had it all there this past weekend.
FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.
For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.
For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.
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