Notebook: Kyle Busch fumes after run-in with Said
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Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
HAMPTON, Ga.— Contact during Happy Hour between the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch and the No. 26 Ford of Boris Said left pronounced tire marks on the side of Busch’s car—and a sour taste in Busch’s mouth.
Said, who is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races this year through an offseason purchase of owner points, posted a top speed of 176.067 mph in final practice, more than 9 mph slower than the 185.524 mph of Mark Martin, who paced the session.
Busch, in essence, said that the No. 26 didn’t belong on the racetrack.
“As far as the incident with the 26 car on the racetrack—guys who don’t belong,” Busch said. “He’s running off the pace at every single track that we’ve been to; he’s been the slowest car at the racetrack. He’s got owner points, so he gets to make the race because he bought his way into a car number from last year that had the owner points.
“I was just minding my own business, racing my own car around the bottom of the racetrack, drifting out to the outside wall, and he was running the top. All of a sudden, he decided he wanted to run the middle down the straightaway. Normally you stay high and run against the wall.
“We made contact and tore up our car just a little bit. It’s just cosmetic stuff, but it’s work for the guys that they have to do, instead of just preparing and getting ready for tomorrow.”
For the record, Said was next-to-last on the Happy Hour speed chart. Slowest was the No. 37 Ford of Kevin Conway, who turned his best lap of the session at 174.598 mph.
GREG BIFFLE TO BACKUP CAR AFTER HAPPY HOUR CRASH
Nine laps into Saturday’s final practice session for the Kobalt Tools 500, Greg Biffle smacked the Turn 4 wall at Atlanta Motor Speedway with right side of his No. 16 Ford.
Forced to a backup car, Biffle will give up his 13th starting position for Sunday’s race and take the green flag from the rear of the field. Biffle, currently sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, returned to the track in the backup car late in the session but turned enough laps to feel optimistic about the race.
“To be honest with you, it couldn’t have gone better,” Biffle said. “I got out (on the track) with six minutes to go. The car drove really, really well, and it drove better than my old (primary) car for that short run. I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
As he sat in the backup waiting to return to the track, Biffle pointed out that Kyle Busch had scraped the wall about 18 times in winning the spring race at Atlanta two years ago.
“I just hit it in the wrong place,” Biffle said. “I just got a little bit loose running the top. The back end touched the wall and sucked the nose over, right where they stopped the SAFER barrier. I hit right in the worst spot, where the wall was kinked out. …
“I just killed the car.”
WENDELL SCOTT REMEMBERED AT ATLANTA
The achievements of Wendell Scott, the only African-America driver to win a race in NASCAR’s foremost series, are being commemorated this weekend with a special decal on all Cup and Camping World Truck Series vehicles, marking his first start in the series on March 4, 1961.
Scott finished 17th in a field of 18 in his debut at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, S.C. He won his only Cup race Dec. 1, 1963 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla. Scott died in 1990 at age 69.
Scott’s daughter, Sybil Scott, is gratified that her father’s participation in racing helped open doors for other minority drivers. NASCAR supports its own Drive for Diversity program under the aegis of Revolution Racing.
“Daddy’s legacy is through the diversity program,” Sybil Scott said Saturday morning in the AMS media center. “The doors are open pretty wide right now, I feel very strongly.
“I can only look at these drivers and think of how my dad would be their greatest fan. He would be out there encouraging them and would want others to be supportive. That’s how to keep Daddy’s legacy alive.”
