Kyle Busch wins Coors Light Pole at Loudon

Posted on July 11, 2014 by

Jimmie Johnson will start on the front row next to ‘Rowdy’

LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch didn’t just break the track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he obliterated it by 1.633 mph in Coors Light Pole qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301.

"(The lap) didn’t feel that good, but it felt good," said Busch, who finished second in both Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire last year. "It was real stable, real comfortable. The car turned well (in Turns 3 and 4)."

After finishing 25th or worse in four of the last six races, Busch could use a good result to get back on track. Ninth in points, he is in good shape to make the Chase with a win in the fifth race of the season at Auto Club Speedway.

"This has been a good place for us," Busch said. "We’ve been close here. The second race here last year we were a lot better on the long runs but the race was just a little too short for us."

Neither Brian Vickers nor Matt Kenseth who won the 2013 Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire made it to the second and final round of qualifying on Friday.

Jimmie Johnson‘s Hendrick Chevrolet joined Busch’s Toyota on the front row, qualifying at 137.790 mph, also considerably faster than Ryan Newman‘s record (136.497) set last September.

"To come out for our second session on older tires and improve by over two-tenths of a second is something to be proud of," Johnson said. "Of course we want to get the pole. But this helps make the weekend so much easier to race. You get a good pit stall, good track position and you can fine tune from here. This is such a scrappy track. It’s tough to complete a pass here."

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin will also have the benefit of starting near the front. Hamlin became the 13th driver to set a track record in the first 30-minute session and turned the third-fastest lap.

"Our cars have got some speed here," said Hamlin, who will be joined on the second row by Tony Stewart. The Stewart-Haas Chevrolet was the provisional pole-sitter as eight of the 12 drivers in the final round waited for their cars to cool and a cloud to obscure the sun before taking their best shots in the final 3:30 of qualifying.

Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet) qualified fifth and Joey Logano (Ford) sixth. Logano turned the second-fastest lap in the first round of knockout qualifying, despite being forced to a backup car.

Logano had just five minutes of practice in his backup Fusion after blowing a left rear tire and tagging the Turn 1 wall in the morning practice. "The same exact thing happened in this race last year," Logano said. "It’s a bummer because I felt like our car was pretty good. Hopefully, the other one is just as good."

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by

Fellow NASCAR Next driver Jesse Little gets first K&N East win at New Hampshire

RELATED: Little wins at Loudon | Learn about NASCAR Home Tracks

LOUDON, N.H. — Close, but no cigar.

Not that 17-year-old, underage NASCAR Next driver Ben Rhodes could’ve lit the proverbial cigar, anyway, if he had been able to celebrate tying the 23-year-old NASCAR K&N Pro Series East consecutive win streak record of five.

The Louisville, Kentucky native finished a disappointing 22nd in the Granite State 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday night, snapping his win streak at four (Iowa, Winston-Salem, Pensacola, Hampton) but maintaining his series points lead.

Rhodes had qualified first after setting a track record by circling the 1.058-mile oval in 29.622 seconds, but succumbed to late race power issues and a myriad of restarts that shuffled him from the front row to the middle of the pack.

Jesse Little, another NASCAR Next driver and the son of Camping World Truck Series director Chad Little, was able to take advantage of Rhodes’ struggles, driving from a starting position of second to secure his first K&N victory.

Apart from the normal feelings that come along with seeing another car celebrating in Victory Lane — this time the No. 97 of Little — there wasn’t any disappointment from Rhodes when considering his win streak had been snapped.

"I really didn’t care about the streak, to be honest," said Rhodes, who will take his still-lofty points lead over Cameron Hayley to Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway for a July 19 race. "I was just approaching it as a normal race, and I didn’t have any pressure because of that. You just forget about everything and do what you need to do.

"And because I didn’t go out there wanting to win it for the streak, I’m not disappointed because of it."

With cars beating and banging off of each other, going three- and even sometimes four-wide on several late restarts, it gave Rhodes a bitter taste of the type of all-or-nothing racing that can come along with this series.

A February 21 birthday will allow him — should the offers come calling — to run a full season in either the Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series next year, making the flying K&N tempers something he doesn’t need to worry about much longer.

"There’s no guarantee (I’ll be in the Camping World Truck Series or the Nationwide Series) next year, since this sport is very uncertain, but we’ll see what we can get together," Rhodes said. "I was hoping for a good finish, maybe help my odds for next year and see what I could get into, but everything that happened today wasn’t really our fault.

"You can’t win points and championships by driving stupid. I wish people would realize that out here in this series. They’re out trying to burn their stuff up in the beginning trying to move you up out of the track in the beginning of the race when you just need to save your stuff in these cars and it’s just getting a little bad, but that’s part of this series and you just have to deal with it for the rest of the year. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll have this thing."

Considering Rhodes just came off a streak where he won five of six races — and finished runner-up in the other — with six races left, it’s likely he’ll at least tie the series record of six total wins in a season set by current Nationwide driver Dylan Kwasniewski last year. But as far as Ricky Craven’s consecutive wins streak set in 1991, that’s still not out of the picture, either.

"We’ll do it again. We’ll go win four more races in a row and go make (season finale) Dover our fifth race; how about that?"

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by

Weekend gets off to rough start with wreck in opening practice

LOUDON, N.H. — NBA superstar LeBron James announced Friday that he was leaving the Miami Heat to return home to his Akron, Ohio, roots and rejoin the team that drafted him, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As far as the NASCAR world is concerned, there was another homecoming that was also noteworthy.

With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend, Joey Logano, a Middletown, Connecticut, native, returns to what he considers his home track. Logano picked up his first Cup win here in 2009 at the ripe young age of 19 years, 1 month and 4 days old — which still stands as the record for youngest driver ever to win a Cup race — making the Magic Mile a special, albeit a challenging, place for the Team Penske driver.

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"I feel good about (this weekend)," said Logano, currently sixth in points. "This track is one of the tougher race tracks for me, but it is a special race track for me and I consider it my home track not growing up too far from here. I watched my first Cup race here and won my first Cup race here so it has always been special for me. We had a good test at Milwaukee (Mile) a couple weeks ago getting ready for this race and I think we are ready to go. We learned a couple things there that are a little different than we have normally done. We are going to get out of the box a little bit and try a few different things to try to wake up this AutoTrader.com Ford Fusion."

His No. 22 was forcibly awakened 30 minutes into opening practice when he had a left rear tire go down, sending the Ford Fusion careening into the outside wall. Logano was evaluated and released from the infield care center with no injuries, but his ride wasn’t so fortunate. He will be in a backup car for Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (1 p.m. ET, TNT).

"The same exact thing happened in this race last year. I wasn’t even close to saving that. I needed about 500 more yards of straightaway to save that one," Logano said. "Unfortunately, we will have to get the second AutoTrader.com Fusion out here and try to get it tuned up for the race. It is a bummer. I felt like our car was pretty good. It wasn’t great, but we were getting closer and I felt like we were a top-five car. Hopefully, the other one is just as good. Team Penske does a great job of making these cars consistent so I am not too worried about it."

Logano was able to get back out for the final few minutes of opening practice, placing 11th overall with a best speed of 134.648 mph. He ran a total of 16 laps, three of which came in the backup, so things aren’t looking as bleak as they could be as he attempts to rebound from a 40th-place finish in this race last year.

Another thing he’s not worried about: making his second consecutive Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Logano is one of five drivers who can officially clinch a top-30 position in the standings and qualify for the Chase with multiple wins, the others being Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two wins), Jimmie Johnson (three wins) Jeff Gordon (one win) and teammate Brad Keselowski (two wins.)

Given his multiple victories through the season’s first 18 races, it wasn’t much of a concern to begin with.

"We kind of figured we were in with the two wins anyway so it doesn’t really change much for us. We have been racing hard and racing for wins," Logano said. "This 22 team has been fast at each and every race track we have been to so far. It is hard not to have confidence. I know we can win at every one of them. We have to keep the momentum going. We have to keep those good finishes coming along and keep the momentum going and keep our guys ready to go when it comes to Chase time. That is the big time. We have to go out and win races and be there for Homestead.

"This time, being in (the Chase) so early we can kind of make sure guys are prepared for when it comes Chase time that we are not running behind the eight ball anymore, that we are ahead of it and ready to go."

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by

Three straight finishes of 28th or worse have knocked rookie to 17th in standings

LOUDON, N.H. — For this NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie, given his 13th-place spot in the standings that has him in a provisional berth to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, combined with an average finish of 16.7 — better than series mainstays Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart — and blatant evidence that he can hang at some of NASCAR’s biggest tracks, there isn’t a whole lot more that a driver could hope for in his debut season, just a year removed from racing in the Nationwide Series.

If you were thinking this all refers to rookie phenom Kyle Larson, guess again.

Over the course of the past few weeks, there has been a major shift in momentum for Larson and his fellow Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Austin Dillon — who the first paragraph describes — with the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet cooling off considerably since a pair of top-10s at Pocono and Michigan in June and several other impressive runs throughout the first half of the season.

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While Larson can thank his three top-five finishes at Fontana, Fort Worth and Pocono for keeping him ahead of Dillon in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race, it’s the Richard Childress Racing driver who is currently in position to earn the chance to take home the bigger trophy that comes along with winning the Chase.

Considering Larson was seventh in points less than a month ago, it seems inconceivable that he could be on the outside looking in right now, but it’s true.

"Our chances (to make the Chase) were really good up until three weeks ago," Larson said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "Then we lost power steering at Sonoma and finished in the high 20s. Kentucky we were pretty fast and blew a right-front tire and then at Daytona, we got caught up in a typical Daytona crash and got a 36th-place finish or something like that. I think we went from being tied for seventh to (17th) in points over three weeks. It was looking great up until now.

"It makes you stress out a little bit just because each week it gets closer and closer to the Chase. Now we have fallen to where we have to fight really hard again. It makes it nerve-racking, but we are all pretty close. I think there are six or so guys that are pretty close in points. I have to have a couple of good runs and hopefully get back up there. It would be nice to get a win soon for sure."

A win would be huge for the No. 42 team, but might not be entirely necessary. With eight races left before the Chase field locks in, including Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (1 p.m. ET, TNT), and just 11 different drivers to win a race thus far, it’s likely that there will be competitors without a victory racing for a championship come September.

Given that the standings are so bunched up all the way from Larson, with 482 points in 17th, to sixth-place Joey Logano (546 points), as long as the 21-year-old gets back on track and regains the consistency he enjoyed early in the season, he should be able to work his way back up and sneak into the Chase.

Still, the rough patch is a bit humbling.

"I knew at some point with how well we were running everybody is going to run into some bad luck. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be three weeks in a row worth of bad luck," he said. "I figured we may have some bad luck one week or two weeks in a row not three. It makes you stress out coming here to New Hampshire, hoping that you get a good finish. You can’t have four bad finishes in a row. I mean I understand the whole luck factor so it was humbling, but didn’t surprise me."

As far as a fourth bad finish in a row, odds are he shouldn’t worry a whole lot. While he’s never raced here in a Cup car before, he did finish 11th last month at the similar 1-mile Dover track and has a Magic Mile victory under his belt from his K&N Pro Series East days in 2012. He also placed second on the speed charts in opening practice on Friday.

And while Dillon’s aforementioned numbers — as well as a pair of top-10 finishes at Daytona — are impressive, Larson has plenty himself, perhaps none more so than his adjusted pass efficiency. Measuring the percentage of successful pass encounters under green flag conditions, Larson’s 53.07 percent ranks third behind only Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth, unprecedented for a rookie.

"I feel like we have been a little bit stronger than Austin mostly so I think once we get back to finishing some races hopefully we can pad that gap between him and myself in the rookie points.

"It sucks the last few weeks I think he’s been the highest finishing rookie, but I feel like our stats have been a little bit better than his so far this season. Just got to keep sticking with it and trying to set it as a goal to beat him every weekend as well as get top 10s."

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Officials say issue will be evaluated further at NASCAR’s R&D Center next week

MORE: Jones wins at Iowa | Inside post-race inspection

The race-winning truck of Erik Jones measured too low in the rear during post-race inspection following Friday nights American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway.

Officials said the issue would be evaluated further at the NASCAR Research and Development Center during the upcoming week.

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Jones dominated the Camping World Truck Series event, leading 131 of 200 laps. It was his second career win.

Unlike the Sprint Cup Series, ride-height rules remain in place for entries in the Nationwide and Truck Series.

"It was close. It was off a little bit, but it was close," said Eric Phillips, crew chief for Jones’ Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota. "Not sure right now, but we’ll look at everything. Obviously it wasn’t anything intentional but we’ll look into it. It’s a rough race track and just not a situation we want to be in, but we’ll have to see what happens on the first of the week when we get home and look over it."

Team owner Kyle Busch measured too low in the front during post-race inspection at Kentucky Speedway in the No. 51’s last race, which marked Busch’s fifth win in five truck series starts this season. NASCAR determined that the violation was a P2 penalty, violating Section 20B-12.8.1 (truck failed to meet post-race height requirements) of the 2014 NASCAR rule book.

After the Kentucky event, Phillips was fined $5,000 and owner Busch was penalized with the loss of six championship truck owner points.

"The Kentucky deal is completely a different thing," Phillips said. "We were probably pushing tolerances there, but that’s our job to do, but here it wasn’t that, by no means. We’ll just have to figure it out Monday and see what happens."

After finishing second in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch addressed the infraction.

"We’re having the same issue that the 9 (Nationwide) car had earlier this year with being able to maintain heights," Busch said. "After the race, there’s a tolerance of a window of, I think, a quarter inch that you’re allowed in green."

Earlier this season, the No. 9 entry of driver Chase Elliott measured too low during post-race inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. NASCAR determined that the violation was a P2 penalty and placed Elliott’s crew chief, Greg Ives, on probation for the remainder of the year.

"And the Nationwide cars, I think that tolerance is a half-inch; they widened it, and guys are not having issues now because the tolerance is bigger," Busch said. "And our trucks seem to still be having that issue, just because the tolerance window wasn’t opened up as much as what Nationwide is.

"We’re trying to get it the best we can. It’s our front-end setup stuff. People know what we’re running. They know what we’re doing. It just a matter of trying to get it fine-tuned a little bit more where we can start higher, maybe maintain a little bit better height if they don’t change the rule."

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1

MORE: American Ethanol 200 lineup

Darrell Wallace Jr. earned his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 21 Means 21 Pole of the season which gave the No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports team the first pit pick for the American Ethanol 200 Presented by Enogen (Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

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His KBM teammate, Erik Jones, qualified second and chose the sixth pit stall with an opening in front of him. Across the opening in the fourth stall is defending series champion Matt Crafton, who qualified sixth.

Red Horse Racing’s Timothy Peters qualified third and chose the 14th stall with an opening behind him. On the other side of the opening in the 15th stall is Ryan Blaney for Brad Keselowski Racing after qualifying fourth.

Cole Custer qualfied fifth and selected the 11th stall with an opening in front of him. Across the way in stall 10 is another teenager, John Hunter Nemechek.

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Coors Light Pole Award winner Kyle Busch picks first stall off of pit road

Kyle Busch earned his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award of the season and broke the 13th track record of the season with his 138.130 mph circuit of the Magic Mile, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, on Friday.

With the pole came first pick of pit position, and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team chose the first pit stall at the end of pit road, heading into Turn 1 for the Camping World RV Sales 301 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, TNT).

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Three-time New Hampshire winner Jimmie Johnson will start on the front row, and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team chose the 32nd pit stall with an opening in front of him. In the 31st pit stall, across the opening from Johnson, will be Busch’s JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin, who qualified third.

Stewart-Haas Racing owner and driver, Tony Stewart, qualified fourth and his No. 14 team chose the 29th pit stall, also with a front opening. Front Row Motorsports’ David Ragan will be sandwiched in between Stewart and Hamlin.

Rounding out the top five in qualifying was Jamie McMurray. His No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team will pit in the 19th stall, the first stall back from the very first stall on pit road with a front opening.

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Kyle Busch Motorsports duo will start on front row at Iowa

MORE: American Ethanol 200 lineup

Darrell Wallace Jr. won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award for Friday’s American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

Wallace earned the pole with a 137.279 mph lap in the final round of qualifying. For Wallace, it was his second 21 Means 21 Pole Award and first at Iowa. The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver has been strong of late with a win and a runner-up finish in his past two Camping World Truck Series races.

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Joining Wallace on the front row will be his KBM teammate Erik Jones, who laid down a lap of 137.189 mph in the final round of qualifying.

Starting on Row 2 will be Timothy Peters and Ryan Blaney.

Cole Custer, who won the pole at Gateway, rounded out the top five.

Points leader Johnny Sauter will start 18th. He did not advance to the final round of qualifying.

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Johnson leads Cup practice, Logano wrecks; Menard paces NNS contingent; rain hits Iowa

SPRINT CUP SERIES PRACTICE | GET RESULTS

A late, fast lap from Jimmie Johnson allowed the six-time champion to supplant Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon atop the leaderboard at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a practice session that was delayed nearly 10 minutes after Joey Logano crushed his No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the outside wall.

Johnson’s speed of 135.313 mph (28.148 seconds) came on his 20th of 22 laps. He has three career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at the 1.058-mile track.

Logano was 12th on the leaderboard when he wrecked, and he finished the session 11th. His backup car was waiting for him in the garage after he was treated and released from the infield care center.

"We had a left rear tire go down there," the driver said. "The same exact thing happened in this race last year. I wasn’t even close to saving that. I needed about 500 more yards of straightaway to save that one. Unfortunately we will have to get the second AutoTrader.com Fusion out here and try to get it tuned up for the race. It is a bummer."

Kyle Larson’s late run in qualifying trim put the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender up to second on the speed chart at 135.212 mph, just 0.021 seconds behind Johnson.

Gordon hung on for third place at 135.164 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet, with Jamie McMurray (135.131 mph) and Kevin Harvick (135.131 mph) rounding out the top five at the exact same speed. All cars in the top five have Hendrick horsepower.

Two-time track winner Clint Bowyer (134.939 mph) was sixth, with former series champion Brad Keselowski logging the seventh-fastest time on the speed chart at 134.782 mph.

Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. ET later today.

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NATIONWIDE SERIES FINAL PRACTICE | GET RESULTS

Paul Menard led an 85-minute final NASCAR Nationwide Series practice session Friday, leading three other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars who finished in the top five in both of Friday’s practices.

Menard’s speed of 130.595 mph was the fastest of the day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He was the only driver to break the 130 mph-barrier in the final session.

Menard, who has one series victory this year, led second-place Kyle Busch (129.851 mph) by 0.167 seconds. Brad Keselowski (129.476 mph) and Kyle Larson (129.173 mph) were third and fourth, respectively. Busch, Keselowski and Larson all finished in the top five of Friday’s opening practice.

Trevor Bayne, sixth in the points standings, rounded out the top five with a speed of 129.121 mph in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Rookies Dylan Kwasniewski (129.103 mph), Chris Buescher (128.981 mph) and Ty Dillon (128.885 mph) finished sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively.

Coors Light Pole Qualifying takes place Saturday at 10:10 a.m. ET, with the Sta-Green 200 following at 3:30 p.m. ET.

NATIONWIDE SERIES PRACTICE | GET RESULTS

Brian Scott‘s strength on shorter tracks was again on display Friday in a 50-minute opening NASCAR Nationwide Series practice at 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The series hits the track again from 3-4:25 p.m. ET for final practice.

Scott led the field with a best speed of 130.042 mph in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Scott has won two career poles at Richmond (a 0.75-mile track) and led 239 laps in a race last year. Earlier this year, he finished sixth at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

Four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars followed suit, with Kyle Larson (129.243 mph) taking second, just as he did in the day’s first Sprint Cup practice. Kyle Busch (129.029 mph), Brad Keselowski (128.758 mph) and Matt Kenseth (128.745 mph) rounded out the top five.

Series points leader Regan Smith was sixth on the board with a speed of 128.273 mph. Elliott Sadler (127.984 mph) was ninth with rookie Chase Elliott (127.684 mph) 10th.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES FINAL PRACTICE (CANCELED)

NEWTON, Iowa — Rain and the threat of severe storms have put a damper on NASCAR Camping World Truck Series activity Friday at Iowa Speedway.

The series completed a 75-minute opening practice Friday morning ahead of the American Ethanol 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), but teams scurried to set up tents in the auxiliary garage area as the skies grew darker. A spitting rain began falling a half-hour later, and final practice that was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET was canceled.

Keystone Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. ET on the 0.875-mile asphalt track. If rain were to wash away the two-round, multi-truck session, the starting lineup would be set according to a combination of the speeds posted in the first and final practice.

Darrell Wallace Jr., driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 54 Toyota, was fastest in the opening practice at 137.261 mph.

— Zack Albert

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES PRACTICE | RESULTS

Late mock qualifying runs jumbled the leaderboard Friday morning at Iowa Speedway, where teams kept an eye on potential dicey weather coming in during the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice session.

At the end, it was Darrell Wallace Jr. — who had the second-fastest practice speed before mock runs began — atop the leaderboard. His session-best speed of 137.261 mph came on his 26th and final lap in the No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

Wallace was the only driver to top 137 mph. Defending series champion Matt Crafton was second on the board with a speed of 136.553 mph in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota.

Timothy Peters (136.452 mph) was third, followed by 18-year-old Erik Jones (136.381 mph) and 16-year-old Cole Custer (136.275 mph). Custer is in the No. 00 truck of Haas Racing Development. He has three series starts this season.

Ryan Blaney was tops on the leaderboard early in the session, but he slipped to 12th as others changed their setups. His top speed of 135.665 mph came on his third lap.

Series points leader Johnny Sauter checked in at 22nd place.

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Posted on July 11, 2014 by Zack Albert

Peters and Hornaday Jr. exchange words as well at Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa — Who says there’s no kissing and making up in NASCAR?

Two on-track run-ins blew up in a big way on pit road after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway. Timothy Peters and Ron Hornaday Jr. raised their voices in an animated discussion about their collision in the 63rd of 200 laps, then John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher were at the center of a scrum between their crews, culminating with the former taking a swing at the latter.

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In both instances, there was at least a dose of reconciliation later. Hornaday and Peters bumped fists and, though still unhappy, agreed to move on. Townley, calmed down after being escorted to the Camping World Truck Series hauler by a NASCAR official, talked further with Gallagher in much more relaxed tones, and the two eventually hugged it out.

The first incident percolated after Peters’ Red Horse Racing No. 17 Toyota slid up the race track coming out of Turn 4 and made contact with Hornaday’s No. 30 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevy. As the two circled around to the backstretch, Peters nosed into the left-rear fender of Hornaday’s truck in retaliation, spinning his rival around to bring out the second caution of the race.

Though Peters’ spotter apologized profusely over the team radio for the miscommunication, it didn’t stop the two drivers from hashing out their differences afterward.

"It was a little bit of everything," Peters said as he strolled back to his team hauler. "The spotter … you kind of get that feeling from Ron every week when you race close sometimes. There’s no sense in having two torn-up vehicles. It sucks that we both had two torn-up vehicles, but it hurt him as much as it hurt me. So, it is what it is."

Hornaday acknowledged the misstep that led to their collision, but agreed that the two would move on.

"Oh, you have to," Hornaday, a four-time series champion, said after the two bumped fists. "It’s one of those deals where the spotter cleared him and I was already there. I lifted once and he went down, so I figured OK, he was going to give it to me. So I came back up and all of a sudden he came back up because his spotter cleared him. We both can be at fault, but I’ll blame him more than he blames me and that’s all there is to it."

As for the brushback pitch he received from Peters, Hornaday wondered out loud if the contact had come during the caution period, recalling a similar situation involving himself and Darrell Wallace Jr. in 2013. Hornaday wrecked Wallace during a yellow that spring at Rockingham Speedway, drawing a $25,000 fine and a 25-point penalty.

"That was to get a yellow, I guess," Hornaday said of Peters’ push. "If there (already) was a yellow out, he better get fined 25 grand like I did."

After the two made a provisional attempt at peace, more fireworks erupted further up pit road. The crews for Gallagher and Townley engaged in a shouting match, with NASCAR officials stepping in to control the situation. With Townley restrained and Gallagher trying to speak his mind, Townley threw a fist that failed to connect before the two were ultimately separated.

"It’s happened once or twice before, unfortunately enough," Gallagher, the 11th-place finisher, said of post-race fisticuffs. "It’s never fun when it happens. Que sera, sera — what will be, will be."

Townley stormed off, changed clothes in his hauler, then made a beeline for the officials’ hauler for a consultation. Afterward his post-race talk, he admitted that he and Gallagher had "some history" of being at odds, but he spoke in calm, measured tones after a cooling-off period.

"I went berserk almost," Townley said. "I’ve never been that mad before. I don’t know what came over me. I guess it was just two strikes and he was out. I was tired of it. …

"I think if he apologizes, I’m going to say I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for the way I acted. That’s not the way I want to represent Zaxby’s. That’s not how any sponsor wants to be represented. I’m a professional. I’ve never done anything like that before. The only time I’ve been in a fight, I was like 15 years old."

Moments later, Townley was beside the No. 23 truck, talking with Gallagher in a reasonable exchange of opinions. After a warm, humid night at Iowa Speedway, all the tempers had eventually cooled.

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