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Tag: Denny Hamlin

  • Kyle Busch Becomes Poster Boy For ‘Have At It Boys’ With Display of Emotion

    Kyle Busch Becomes Poster Boy For ‘Have At It Boys’ With Display of Emotion

    When Robin Pemberton uttered those four words last year in January, a lot of people were curious as to how the drivers would react. Most thought it would equal some emotions being shown, but at the end of the year, it went beyond just a little bit of emotion.

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]It was easily seen that Kyle Busch would be the poster boy for it, via some of his antics in the past. These antics have some fans not liking Busch for who he is.

    A simple poll of the fans easily shows that one of the drivers that seems to be on everybody’s list is Kyle Busch. In asking a group of fans as to why, you quickly get the sense it has to do with attitude and actions like the above.

    “He just gives off this vibe that he is better then everybody else and it’s all about him,” Evan Towle said. “Sort of like a young Tony Stewart used to be. Tony used to get on my nerves when he first started in NASCAR, but now he has matured and I like him.”

    “I tend to agree with a lot of the way Kyle Busch acts,” Kyle Sedan said. “Sometimes it’s rather annoying.”

    “Arrogant attitude, expects respect on the track but doesn’t give it back, whines about others when he is doing the same thing, fake,” one fan commented.

    “His attitude,” Cathy Gamble Costigan simply puts it.

    If you take his attitude out of the equation, then a lot of people seem to have respect for him.

    “I am, personally, a Tony Stewart fan, but for Kyle, love him or hate him, he is a damn good driver,” Mike Hearty said. “Race wins don’t lie.”

    “I do really like his support/involvement and commitment to short-track racing.” Sedan added.

    A lot of people have been debating that he needs to change, which has come with mixed reactions.

    Towle says, “We don’t need him, as the sport is doing fine without his babyish acts.”

    In some ways, there are certain things that Busch has to become better at, such as some of the things that we saw this past weekend.

    However overall, the sport needs somebody like Busch. His actions do spruce things up and add something different to the sport, and are needed to invoke discussion and rivalry. If everybody was the same cut, wouldn’t it get boring after a while?

    As Mike Hearty and Kyle Sedan both say, it adds to the sport.

    “I personally love Kyle’s attitude myself,” Hearty said. “NASCAR is entertainment and Kyle entertains in any way he can. Each sport needs a standout person the fans can have a choice to love or hate and he is the one. I do believe, though, when he matures more, his attitude will die down. I think he is young, a star and living in the moment right now.”

    “People either ‘love him’ or ‘love to hate him’,” Sedan says. “So he most definitely adds to the sport, and it is good for it.”

    This year was no exception as he added his own version of “Have at it Boys” to each of the divisions.

    Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race with Denny Hamlin

    After teammate Denny Hamlin took the air off the back of Busch’s car during the Sprint All-Star Race, Busch wasn’t too pleased at all as he called Hamlin out on it.

    “Somebody better keep me from Denny Hamlin after this race!” Busch yelled on the radio. “I had this race won. It was won.”

    Busch then drove the car to the garage area, parking directly in front of Hamlin’s hauler. He went inside and waited till Hamlin got there, where they had a discussion with car owner Joe Gibbs in the middle.

    “Kyle had a run to the outside and with me moving up and getting real tight, it then took some air away from the front of his car and he slid up into the wall. It’s tough for me,” Hamlin told Speed. “We talked about it and basically Kyle was just frustrated; he felt like he had a really good car. Me, I just came from the back with no practice and got back to the front where we needed to be and I felt like if I gave up the lead right there then I was going to give up the win.

    “I don’t think Kyle would do anything different if he was in my situation. It’s just when you’re the leader, my feeling is that you’ve got the whole race track. If a guy is to the outside. then that’s when you need to hold your line.”

    Nationwide Series Food City 250 Bristol Race with Brad Keselowski

    As the Nationwide race was getting closer to ending, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were battling hard for the lead. After contact from Keselowski caused Busch to hit the wall, Busch drove back up to Keselowski’s bumper, spinning him.

    “I raced him, raced him, raced him, I don’t know, 12-15 laps? I thought I had him cleared up the back and I moved up in front of him and instead of him doing an [Dale] Earnhardt crossover, he decided to just run into the back of me and put me in the fence,” Busch said.

    “That’s Brad Keselowski. So I went down into the next corner and I dumped him. He does it to everybody else, why can’t I do it to him?”

    Busch won the race while Keselowski ended up 14th.

    “He did a good job, almost cleared me and took it for granted that I would lift to let him in line and I didn’t,” Keselowski said. “That’s his right. We’re going to go to work on beating him next week, and the week after and every other week.”

    In his victory celebration, he changed it up by mocking somebody crying like a baby instead of his bow to go along with the reaction of the fans.

    Truck Series Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky and Championship Battle with Todd Bodine

    Early in the race, it was set in stone that it would come down to a battle between Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch. On lap 82 while battling for the lead, Busch took the air off of Bodine’s truck causing him to spin. Though this ended up helping Bodine as with the unscheduled pit stop and resulting strategy, he came out as the winner while Busch finished seventh.

    “Our misfortune turned out to be a fortune,” Bodine said in victory lane. “I’d like to thank Kyle Busch for driving dirty, sucking me down and getting me spun out. That (stop) gave me enough gas. He doesn’t cut anybody a break. He drives that way in every division in every race.”

    Upon hearing the comments, Busch interrupted Bodine’s victory celebration to display his displeasure.

    “He (Busch) doesn’t have to drive like that to win; but he does,” Bodine said. “NASCAR won’t do anything about it. He was mad because I called him out on it.”

    This confrontation at Kentucky promoted a long, hard battle for the Owner’s Championship between Germain Racing (Todd Bodine’s team) and Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    Martinsville was no exception to their battle as they fought hard side-by-side, and at one point, Bodine was accused of trying to fool Busch on a restart.

    “If they think I was trying to do a slow restart to fool Kyle Busch, they are wrong,” Bodine said on the radio at that time. “I just didn’t get a good restart. Message delivered—I’ll work on it.”

    In the end, it was KBM coming out on top.

    The Complete Texas Weekend

    On Friday, Kyle Busch won the Camping World Truck Series race to take over the owner’s points championship standings for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    On Saturday, Busch finished second to Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series race, though was unhappy about it as he thought Edwards jumped the start.

    “Does it f—- matter?” Busch said afterwards. “Race is over, guy’s in Victory Lane.”

    On Sunday, Busch stirred up controversy again, following repairs that he had to make on pit road after a wreck.

    Under caution, Busch sped off pit road to try to beat the pace car and stay on the lead lap. He caught up, but NASCAR penalized him one lap for speeding.

    Busch then went on a rant on the radio against NASCAR and showed the officials the middle finger on pit road, which incurred a penalty of two laps for driver misconduct.

    “I’m the only one who will stand up to ’em, and they’re gonna show me how far I can stand up,” Busch said on the radio after the penalty. He then added that it was freedom of speech, going against the constitutional rights of everybody.

    NASCAR penalized Busch $25,000 and putting him on probation until December 31st for “actions dentimental to the sport of stock car racing”.

    Busch released the following statement following the announcement…

    “I accept NASCAR’s penalty and realize what I did during Sunday’s race at Texas was inappropriate.

    “Even in my relatively short time here in NASCAR, it’s pretty obvious to everyone that I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Sometimes that passion has allowed me to find that little something extra I needed to win, and other times it’s made me cross the line. Sunday at Texas was one of those days.

     “I lost my cool, plain and simple. It’s not acceptable, and I know that. I apologize to NASCAR, its fans, all the partners who support Joe Gibbs Racing, and all the people who work so hard to give me a race car that’s capable of winning races every week. All of those people deserve better from me, and I owe it to them to keep my emotions in check.”

     

    Busch had other key incidents this year, including an argument with Jeff Burton. Though with them all, he just kept being himself and holding his part in the “Have at it Boys” policy.

    During the next couple of weeks, I will reflect upon these incidents as we look back at what all broke loose in 2010.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing 2011 Nationwide Series Lineup Raises Questions

    Joe Gibbs Racing 2011 Nationwide Series Lineup Raises Questions

    Joe Gibbs Racing made the announcement last month that they’d have three teams next year in the Nationwide Series.

    The first team will include Brian Scott running the No. 11 car full-time with crew chief Kevin Kidd.

    The second will include Adam Stevens, previously an engineer on the Cup side, as crew chief on the No. 20 with Joey Logano running the majority of the races. Denny Hamlin is also expected to run some of the races.

    The last team will include Jason Ratcliff with Kyle Busch driving the majority of the races as they try to defend their Owner’s Championship title.

    This all looks good on the surface, though it begs questions. Joe Gibbs Racing has drivers in development, including Brad Coleman and Matt DiBenedetto, so why not give them the chance behind the wheel full-time? Both have proved that they are talented and are worthy of being champions if given the equipment.

    Why let drivers like Busch, Logano and Hamlin compete in a series and win just to look good? All the fans know they are just winning due to competing against smaller teams and less talented drivers?

    By allowing DiBenedetto and Coleman full-time shots, you are allowing the talent pool to expand, which is why the Nationwide Series was built. It was built to give drivers a shot and get them ready for the Sprint Cup Series. Numerous drivers have come through that ladder and it has worked successfully. Why delete that system now and have drivers behind the wheel who have succeeded the ladder?

    It’s simple—Gibbs wants the publicity and knows the sponsors will pay the big bucks if he goes down this road.

    This is something you see with numerous of teams as you saw Penske Racing (Brad Keselowski) and Roush Racing (Carl Edwards) do it last year, just for a start. Though at least they stepped it up and put drivers full-time behind the wheel to give them a chance (Justin Allgaier and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), but they still add to the problem.

    Till somebody, like NASCAR, stands up and puts an end to this, you are going to see the problem grow and the series lose fans. NASCAR has spoken about getting back to their roots and it’s about time they start doing it by starting with the Nationwide Series.

  • NASCAR’s Final Chapter of 2010: Horseshoes, Hand Grenades and Hope

    NASCAR’s Final Chapter of 2010: Horseshoes, Hand Grenades and Hope

    The Daytona 500 may still be months away, but fans, media and the drivers themselves are already gearing up for the 2011 season.  After the wild ride that we took in 2010, how could next year possibly compare?

    For the first time in since the introduction of the Chase in 2004, where only 18 points separated points leader Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson heading into Homestead, have we seen such a close battle for the Sprint Cup. Another first was seeing someone other than Jimmie Johnson sitting in the No. 1 position after race 35, a position that Johnson had majestically held since 2006.

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Denny Hamlin gave us hope. Hope that the winning streak the No. 48 team so gleefully basked in four times prior would be broken. Hope that maybe the Chase was not the flawed monster that conspiracy theorists declaimed. Hope that for once in a great while fans would watch every lap of the Ford 400 without changing the channel in disgust, because a champion had been crowned long before the final lap was run.

    Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

    Hamlin may not have been able to steal the golden crown from Johnson, but he did give him a hell of a fight. The trophy was Hamlin’s to lose and Johnson stole it away with calculated perfection and luck.

    After a rear axle problem took Johnson out of the Daytona 500 on lap 185, we delighted in the notion that maybe the 48 crew’s cream would not rise to the top in 2010.

    Chad Knaus proved us wrong by whipping up a brand new batch of vanilla confection and boldly serving it atop a plate of crow, after the 48 team posted a first place finish, just one week later in California.

    On February 21, during a post-race press conference in Fontana, fans may recall a certain scorned second placed finisher, hailing Johnson and his crew for their serendipitous win.

    As luck would have it, Johnson pitted right before Brad Keselowski spun out on lap 230 and was able to restart in the first position with just 20 laps to go, all but forcing the other leaders to pit under caution. Despite a rear bumper full of Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 machine, Johnson maintained his position until the checkered flag waved.

    Once again a strange twist of NASCAR fate worked in favor of the No. 48 team, but how?

    Kevin Harvick had his own theories stating in his post-race interview, “They did a good job today in winning the race, but they have a golden horseshoe stuck up their ass. I mean, there’s no way to get around that.”

    Hmmm…so that’s where he’s been hiding that good fortune for the last five years, knowing all along it was the one place that NASCAR would never inspect. Reminds me of the story told by Captain Koons to a young boy named Butch in the movie Pulp Fiction regarding the child’s birthright, his great-grandfather’s watch.

    “He hid it (the watch) in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. And then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.”

    Jeez, what does this mean? If Jimmie dies from dysentery will Chad Knaus have to hide that golden horseshoe up his own ass until the next champion comes along?

    Hey, I’m not knocking the guy, I’m just saying that it might be easier to just carry a rabbit’s foot, but to each is own. 34 races later,  The golden horseshoe proved lucky for Johnson in Homestead, just when he needed it most. In the end, the luck o’ the 48  propelled him from a 15 point deficit to a 38 point lead over Hamlin and the “Drive for Five” was in the books.

    But what if?

    What if Harvick hadn’t launched his No. 29 Chevrolet like a loose hand grenade into Kyle Busch’s bumper on lap 242?

    I know that Harvick hoped to capture the title in the end and in turn raced hard to gain points on Hamlin and Johnson after battling back from a speeding penalty on pit road at lap 188. I know he had his own frustrations with Busch on the track stating,“He raced me like a clown all day – three-wide, on the back bumper, running into me, and I just had enough. The last time I just didn’t lift”

    If he hadn’t wrecked Busch, the caution flag would not have flown with 25 laps to go. Hamlin would not have gone a lap down, leaving him in a position to restart the final leg of the race at the tail end of the lead lap in the 20th position; conclusively dashing any chance of winning the championship.

    Hamlin knew it was the perfect storm of mayhem that the 48 team needed to grab hold of the reigns and steer it home.

    “I thought it was over when the 18 (of Kyle Busch) wrecked, for sure – that trapped us a lap down,” Hamlin said. “The 29 (of Harvick) and the 48 (of Johnson) were actually just a straightaway ahead, but the way it timed out to when that caution fell, it trapped us a lap down, and so they stayed out and the cars at the back all came and got tires, so it separated us.

    “What was a straightaway turned into 15 spots when that caution flew, and that really hurt us quite a bit. But we were lucky to be in that position – our car was banged up bad and we just could not overcome that.”

    Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs said he wasn’t happy with the Harvick-Busch incident, saying it impacted the Chase by putting Hamlin a lap down.

    “We got wrecked by the 29 [of Harvick], so that was really frustrating – it caused Denny to go a lap down,” Gibbs said. “That was disappointing.”

    What if Hamlin had not damaged his splitter after spinning out on lap 24, was he doomed from the start?

    What if Johnson’s engine had given up the ghost on lap 200 instead of teammate Jeff Gordon’s?

    What if anyone, anyone, other than Johnson had won the championship this year, would we fans be happy with what we could have gotten in the end?

    Life continuously leaves us wondering “what if” and as we reflect on all of the different scenarios, we often kick ourselves over the “shoulda, whoulda, couldas,” but never can we go back and change the outcome.

    There is always next year, right? Yes there is! A new year filled with anticipations of what the 2011 Sprint Cup season will hold. Sure, some say that they’ll never watch another NASCAR race since it is so “obviously rigged” in Johnson’s favor, but I don’t believe you. You’ll find yourself flipping through the channels on February 20 and pause “for just a moment” to watch the green flag drop. Before you know it, you’re hooked all over again.

    While Jimmie Johnson does not top my list of favorite drivers, I do have respect and a clear understanding of his accomplishments. We witnessed something on November 21 that we will probably never see again. It was an amazing piece of history in the making and as a NASCAR fan, it is something that I am proud to have been a part of.

    The 2011 season will no doubt bring lots of hope and hype. I, along with millions of fans around the world will be there once again for the ride of our lives. So, NASCAR show me what you’ve got! Jimmie Johnson may be your “ace in the hole” for now, but I’m pretty sure we ain’t seen nothing yet.

  • 2010 Championship Week Preview: Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson gunning for the title

    In recent years, Jimmie Johnson had a three-digit points lead and only needed to finish the race to win yet another Sprint Cup Series title.

    Things have changed — drastically.

    Three guys — Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Johnson — are in the running for the championship, which will undoubtedly come down to the final lap of the Ford 400 this weekend.

    [media-credit name=”Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]Only 15 points separate the top-two drivers in the closest championship battle since the advent of the new points system in 1974. Hamlin, the points leader, can only clinch by winning the race or leading the most laps and finishing second. Otherwise, he will need to outrun Johnson and Harvick.

    “I’m in a good spot knowing that I just have — I can control my own destiny and not have to worry about anything else,” Hamlin said during Thursday’s championship contenders press conference. “If we win the race, it’s a moot point.”

    Johnson has more to overcome than Hamlin’s one victory and three top-five finishes in five starts at Homestead. Since 1975, only two drivers have ever come from behind in the final race to win the title In 1979, Richard Petty won the championship after entering the season finale trailing Darrell Waltrip by two points and most recently in 1992 when Alan Kulwicki overcame a 30-point deficit to beat Davey Allison. Still, Johnson says he is more relaxed coming into the finale than he ever has been.

    “For us, I mean, we have nothing to lose,” Johnson said. “… When you’re defending, your mind starts to change, and you start to think about the ‘what ifs.’ When you’re chasing, it’s more about ‘What do I need to do?’ It’s been a more relaxed week for me, even though I’m down 15 points, than I’ve ever experienced before.”

    Johnson is looking for his fifth straight championship title while Hamlin and Harvick are both looking for their first.

    Storylines:

    At the end of the year banquet held in Las Vegas, the top-ten drivers in the chase will be invited to come up on stage, the 11th and 12th place drivers will not. As Hamlin, Johnson and Harvick battle for the championship, the other end of the chase field is battling to stay in the top-ten. Kurt Busch currently holds the tenth spot, but Clint Bowyer is only five points behind.

    The final race of the 2010 season also means it’s the final opportunity for cars to either gain or lose a spot in the top-35 owner points race. The No. 71 team currently holds a 74-point lead over the No. 38 team, who is in 36th. The first five races of next season will use the top-35 owner points from the end of this season to determine which cars will be guaranteed a starting spot.

    Last year:

    The 2009 Ford 400 was won by Denny Hamlin after Jimmie Johnson, eventual champion, sat on the pole.

    Race information:

    Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, Fla. (1.5-mile oval)
    Date: Sunday, Nov. 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET
    TV: ESPN, 1 p.m. ET (pre-race starting at Noon ET on ESPN2)
    Radio: MRN Radio/Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio 128

  • Angie’s Excellent Adventure at Darlington Raceway

    Angie’s Excellent Adventure at Darlington Raceway

    I recently had the opportunity to cover the NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway as a member of the media. Below is a summary of my experience, slightly skewed for entertainment purposes.

    My journey began with a trip to Darlington to pick up my media credentials to cover the upcoming Nationwide and Cup Series races. While I was there, I just had to stop by the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum.

    As I stepped out of my car and looked at the faces adorning the front of the museum, I knew that I was in for a treat. Everywhere I looked, I saw a different piece of stock car racing history. Some things were immediately familiar like the number 43, trademark blue, 1967 Plymouth of Richard Petty.

    And then there were the surprises.

    Over to one side was a 1956 Ford convertible. This particular car won 22 races in a single year racing in the convertible series. One of my favorite parts of the museum was a glass case with an array of confiscated items taken off the competitors cars. I just had to laugh at the ingenuity of these drivers who used every advantage they could find to win…at least until they got caught. It seems like some things never change.

    I also got to see the Dodge Hemi engine that powered Buck Baker’s car when he won the 1964 Southern 500. This same engine was outlawed for the 1965 season. The museum also houses Darrell Waltrip’s 1991 Chevy Lumina, which rolled eight times in the 1991 Pepsi 400. It’s still considered one of the worst crashes in stock car history.

    I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It may not be the biggest or fanciest racing museum out there, but it is well worth the $5.00 price of admission. Besides, bigger is not always better.  This wonderful slice of NASCAR is a perfect complement to the Darlington Raceway.

    Now that I’d had a little preview of Darlington, I could hardly wait for the racing to begin.

    On Friday morning, I was at the racetrack by 9 a.m. and Nationwide Series practice had already begun. I found my seat at the media center and settled in for what would prove to be a wild ride. Press conferences were set to begin about 10:15 am so I took a little walk outside to take a look at the action out on the track while I waited.

    As I stood there watching, I realized that I had a big grin on my face.  I just couldn’t help myself. The pungent smell of exhaust fumes was like the sweet aroma of roses and the roar of the engines was music to my ears. Or maybe the gas fumes were making me delirious. All I know is that I couldn’t stop smiling.

    The driver interviews soon began and I had to keep reminding myself that I was there as part of the media. I had to conduct myself with professionalism at all times. Today I was not a fan; I was a journalist.

    Although I’d seen these drivers interviewed countless times, it gave me an entirely new perspective to see them in person. Their charisma and personalities came through so much more clearly. Everything was going smoothly until Jimmie Johnson’s press conference. He was patiently explaining how the entire Hendrick Motorsports organization was working to perfect their programs.

    Perhaps he should have put more thought into the phrasing of his explanation as he summed it all up by saying, “So we are all kind of massaging our packages.” At this point, I’m biting my tongue to keep from laughing and berating myself for being childish. But then, I look around the room and see the same pained expressions on everyone’s faces as we’re all trying not to laugh out loud.

    I’m not ashamed to admit that it was my favorite quote of the weekend.

    Another highlight of the day was watching the qualifying runs. The media center was situated right in front of pit road and I was able to stand within a few feet of the cars as they waited their turn to qualify.

    Earlier in the week, I had arranged to interview Trevor Bayne after he finished qualifying. I decided I’d walk over to pit road to watch him and was almost side swiped by someone driving a golf cart. Imagine my surprise when Kyle Busch jumped off the cart and ran over to climb into his race car.

    It was time for my interview so I headed to Bayne’s hauler. I’d talked to him a couple of times over the phone but this would be my first time in person. We walked into his hauler and there were about six other guys in there, including a couple who were lying on the floor.  They all continued to talk and go about their business as if I wasn’t there. Not the best setting for an interview, but interesting, to say the least.

    I’m guessing they weren’t too impressed by this journalist but Bayne was completely focused and gave me his full attention as I asked my questions. I headed back to the media center just in time for the next press conference and then it was time for Cup qualifying.

    Did I forget to mention, there’s a race tonight?

    I won’t go into every detail. Just think of yourself as an insignificant piece of debris in the eye of a hurricane. You’re standing still while there’s a whirlwind of activity around you. You just have to hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

    After a great Nationwide Series race, I submitted my race review, finally headed home and climbed into bed about 2:00 am.

    Saturday got off to a little slower start and I arrived at the media center around 1:00 pm. I   took a few notes in preparation for the Cup race and caught up on what I’d missed. I was amazed to learn that while I’d been sleeping, painters had been working all night re-painting the walls of the track.

    I’d like to take a moment and say thanks to the folks at the media center. They kept us constantly updated with transcripts of all the press conferences, race results, points standings and more. If you had a question, chances are you already had the answer at your fingertips.

    By this time, I was almost giddy with excitement. Thanks to a colleague from SpeedwayMedia.com, I was going to take a ride in the pace car. With Brett Bodine at the wheel, we took off in a Camaro for a couple of laps around the track. We only got up to about 122 mph on the straightaway, but what a thrill.

    This was probably the highlight of my weekend and I was ready for more. My shouts of, “Do it again, do it again,” however, fell on deaf ears. Of course, I didn’t really shout out loud but the phrase was certainly bouncing around in my brain.

    Still full of adrenalin, I decided to take a walk and do some more exploring before it was time for another press conference. It was another day full of everything NASCAR and I loved every minute of it.

    It was getting close to race time and I decided to head for the Press Box located in the Sprint Tower. Overlooking the track above turn three, we had a panoramic view of the entire facility. After watching another exciting win by Denny Hamlin, it was time to file my last story. I caught a ride back to the media center where my car was parked and headed home.

    I was exhausted. “The Lady in Black” had welcomed me with open arms and it was an experience that I will never forget.

    In closing, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my “sponsors,” SpeedwayMedia.com, NASCAR, the staff of Darlington Raceway, Showtime and the city of Darlington.