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BUSCH: Tempers fly after Richmond race

Boys will be boys. And after a short track race in NASCAR, inevitably somebody's going to be peeved. Friday night's 250-lap event at RIR proved no different, as a veritable melee erupted on pit road after the completion of the event. At one point it ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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Boys will be boys. And after a short track race in NASCAR, inevitably somebody's going to be peeved. Friday night's 250-lap event at RIR proved no different, as a veritable melee erupted on pit road after the completion of the event. At one point it looked like a fraternity beer bust gone bad, as testosterone and tempers ran rampant.

It was hard to discern who was mad at whom after the race, as there were various discussions brewing; from driver to driver, team to team - and everywhere in between.

Scott Riggs, who entered Richmond first in series standings, slipped to third in points after getting caught up in a battle for on track real estate with Ron Hornaday.

He was not amused.

"The first thing I have to do is thank Ron Hornaday for continuing to prove that he is the most disrespectful driver on the race track," said an irate Riggs. "That's where it all started. We had a great race car. You've got somebody like him who thinks somehow somebody put him as the king of restarts, so all of a sudden he should do something spectacular on every restart.

"His spectacular thing on the restart was to run the 10 car into the wall. Great job by him by proving how disrespectful he is and what a true coward of a driver he is and doesn't know how to race anybody clean and really know how to drive a race car. After that, it was just downhill for us."

Riggs wasn't the only racer with his panties in a wad after the Funai 250. Winston Cup point leader Matt Kenseth was drop kicked in the last turn of the final lap by Johnny Sauter (who went on to win the event), as retribution for a previous bump and run by Kenseth. Whichever bump was the final straw was impossible to distinguish; however, it embroiled Kenseth in a brouhaha with Sauter's teammate Kevin Harvick.

"He (Harvick) was mad at me I guess because in the 43's way," said Kenseth, who finished sixth. "I don't know. He slowed down for the yellow and I did get into the back of him. I really shouldn't have and I didn't mean to that much. Kevin got into the back of me and then just brake checked onto pit road. He was mad because I should have got out of the way because it was only his second win."

Harvick , who is not known to possess a sugary disposition, locked into a heated dialogue with Kenseth upon exiting his car, and was unapologetic of the display.

"I just didn't want my teammate getting picked on," said runner-up finisher Harvick. "Matt [Kenseth] just ran into the back of him under yellow up there."

Sauter mimicked Harvick's sentiment, "He's (Kenseth) not going to push me around."

While the "As the Wheel Turns" played out in classic soap opera crescendo between Kenseth-Sauter-Harvick; various pit crew's decided to exact their own kind of justice for perceived indignities that were levied onto their driver's during the race.

Kenseth and Harvick's teams threw down, as well as the No. 10 team of Riggs and the No. 2 team of Ron Hornaday - who fell to fisticuffs. Following suit were the crew members of Shane Hmiel's No. 48 crew and Jason Keller's No. 57 team in retribution for Hmeil wrecking Keller during the event.

Keller went after Hmiel to convey his emotions, and was called into the big blue trailer by NASCAR brass.

Perhaps the only driver not mad was David Green, who climbed to the lead in series rankings, 48 points ahead of Brian Vickers, whose fourth place finish moved him up a spot to second.

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