4/5/03……….. Shane Hmiel’s name has been shuffled through the rumor mill this week. Speculation and hear say has it that Hmiel may be the replacement for Steve Park in the DEI No. 1 Pennzoil Chevy.

Although Park signed a one year contract last summer with DEI, his paltry performance since has fueled rumors of his demise. Park has had only one top ten finish in seven starts this season, the other six have been out of the top fifteen with three of them way out of the top 25.

I can’t see putting Shane Hmiel into a DEI Cup car. Hmiel is not what one would call an up and coming driver. He has caused numerous wrecks, and his immaturity and lack of skill in a race car make me wonder why anyone would want him in a Busch Series car. Hmiel is currently driving the George DeBidart’s un-sponsored Innovative Motorsports No. 48 Pontiac. His paltry performance hasn’t led to acquiring sponsorship and the team may have to fold.

If I were a Pennzoil exec. I would have to put a stop to hiring Hmiel; I would have to nip it in the bud quickly. Hmiel’s father Steve is the director of competition at DEI and is probably putting is a word or two for his son. Sure, landing a driving job with DEI would be one of the best rides in the business, but I don’t feel that Shane Hmiel’s past performance qualifies him for it. Kenny Wallace would be a much better choice.

The Aaron’s 312 results were really not surprising. Everyone knew the race was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s to win, with maybe the exception being Cup driver Joe Nemechek. Dale Jr. played it smart by riding in second place for a good share of the race behind Nemechek, then leading the race for the last and most important half.

At any rate, lady luck was riding on Dale Jr.’s shoulder as a caution flag came out as they crossed the finish line with three laps remaining. There wasn’t enough time to red flag the race so it ended under caution with Earnhardt running out of gas on the last caution lap. If the race had gone green to the finish, he would have lost it to Nemechek, who claimed he had lots of fuel left because he drafted behind Earnhardt for several laps saving his fuel.

The usual “big one” took place just nine laps into the race, taking out nearly half of the 43 car field. There were 21 cars involved, most of which were taken out of contention right then and there.

As it turned out, the stats are now showing seven races in a row for Cup driver’s victories in the Busch Series. Nemechek and Earnhardt have both won two races each in the series.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Joe Nemechek -- No. 87 Chevy – finished 2nd
2. Kasey Kahne -- No. 38 Ford – finished 37th
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 1st
4. Ron Hornaday -- No. 2 Chevy -- finished 4th
5. Stacy Compton -- No. 59 Chevy – finished 32nd
6. Jamie McMurray -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 6th
7. Mike Bliss -- No. 20 Chevy – finished 5th
8. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford – finished 24th
9. Johnny Sauter -- No. 21 Chevy – finished 26th
10. Randy Lajoie -- No. 7 Chevy – finished 29th

Todd Bodine is still on top of the driver’s point’s standings with Jamie McMurray moving up one spot to second with a -39 down from Bodine’s 996 points. Ron Hornaday also moved up one spot and is now in third with a -69. Shane Hmiel tied his best of third and moved up three spots to fourth with a -99 down from the leader. Jason Keller got caught up in the big one and dropped down three spots to fifth with a -107.

David Green also suffered the big one and is still in sixth with a -141. Mike Bliss missed the big one and moved up three spots to seventh with a -143. Scott Riggs is still in eighth with a -181 while Kasey Kahne’s bad luck dropped him down four spots to ninth with a -183. Mike Wallace got through the big one and was the big mover in points gaining 8 spots to round out the top ten with a -212.

Next week the Busch Series moves to the Nashville Superspeedway for race No. 8. The Pepsi 300 will be aired on the FX channel on April 12th at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

Last season’s winner of the Pepsi 300 at Nashville was rookie Scott Riggs. He was followed across the finish line by Jack Sprague, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Scott Wimmer, Jason Keller, Randy LaJoie, Jamie McMurray, rookie Kerry Earnhardt, Stacy Compton, and Tim Sauter.

Shane Hmiel won the Bud pole with a record setting speed of 161.441 miles per hour on the 1.333 mile oval track. There were seven cautions for 54 laps out of the 225 lap event.

4/12/03……….. I may have been a little too hard on Shane Hmiel last week. I got an email from Innovative Motorsports requesting my phone number, which I didn’t send them, I’m not a telephone person. Even though Hmiel had a mediocre season last year, I have to say that he managed to finish all but five of the season’s 34 races. He failed to finish four races because of accidents and one race due to an engine failure. According to his stats page, he only used two provisional starts, completed 88.7% of available laps, had an average start of 17.3 and an average finish of 21.3.

Hmiel’s number’s for last season reflect two top five finishes and eight top ten finishes. Also in his favor were two pole starting positions at Nashville and New Hampshire. Along with four top five starts and nine top ten starts.

Although it seems that Hmiel is doing better this season with two top five finishes and one top ten finish in the last three races, and a move to fourth in driver’s points. It’s still pretty early in the season to determine if the team’s program has done a turn-around with the No. 48 Innovative Motorsports Pontiac.

I alluded last week that the Innovative Motorsports team may have to fold it’s doors if sponsorship couldn’t be found. According to an article at NASCAR.com, this may also prove to me true for a couple of other Busch Series teams. After the Easter weekend off, it remains to be seen if the No. 48 will be present at California along with the No. 92 Herzog/Jackson Motorsports Chevy driven by Todd Bodine and the No. 4 Biagi Brothers Racing GEICO sponsored Chevy driven by Mike Wallace. The GEICO insurance company has only offered part time sponsorship this season. All three of these entries are top ten teams having to race against the wealthier Winston Cup teams who have garnered the lion’s share of the purse money this season.

The Pepsi 300 at the 1.3 mile Nashville Superspeedway oval brought about the first win of the season for a Busch Series regular. David Green stepped up to the plate and answered the call by making a hell bent for leather bonsai run to the front in the waning laps of the race. As he and race leader Johnny Sauter took the white flag, he managed to get around Sauter to take the lead for the first time on the final lap.

The win was Green’s sixth career victory in the Busch Series and his first since winning the Sundrop 300 at Hickory, North Carolina in April of 1996.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Randy LaJoie -- No. 7 Chevy – finished 27th
2. Jason Keller -- No. 57 Ford – finished 29th
3. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford – finished 11th
4. Kevin Grubb -- No. 43 Dodge -- finished 12th
5. Stanton Barrett -- No. 60 Ford – finished 6th
6. Kasey Kahne -- No. 38 Ford – finished 26th
7. David Green -- No. 37 Pontiac – finished 1st
8. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- No. 25 Ford – finished 10th
9. Kerry Earnhardt -- No. 12 Chevy – finished 25th
10. Shane Hmiel -- No. 38 Chevy – finished 14th

Todd Bodine still sits atop of the Busch Series driver’s point’s standings but his 13th place finish dwindled his lead to 1120 points, 78 points ahead of second place Ron Hornaday who moved up one spot with his 16th place finish. David Green’s victory moved him up three spots to third with a -85, in clear contention for the points lead. The fourth place finish from Mike Bliss moved him up three spots to fourth place in the points with a -102, tied with Shane Hmiel who dropped down one spot to fifth.

Jason Keller’s bad luck and his 29th place finish caused him to drop back one spot to sixth with a -155. Jamie McMurray missed the race because he was at Martinsville and that cost him five spots back to seventh with a -163. Johnny Sauter’s second place finish moved him up three spots to eighth with a -168, while Scott Riggs 11th place finish moved him back one spot to ninth with a -170. Brian Vickers, who led the race for a spell, but ended up on the end of the lead lap due to a caution after he made a green flag pit stop, moved up two spots to round out the top ten with a -210. Vickers is a class act who had had lots of strong adversity early in the season. Don’t be surprised if you see his name in the win column real soon!

Next week is an open weekend in the Busch Series. The competitors will travel to California in two weeks joining the Cup Series.

4/19/03……….. If any of you are thinking about attending a Busch series event this season, you might consider going to the CARQUEST Auto Parts 200 at Charlotte (Concord, North Carolina) this coming May 24th.

The 200 lap, 300 mile race on the 1.5 mile Charlotte track will feature a record purse of over $1 million this year. This is probably great news for Jeff Green, who has won the race for the last two years running.

There are still tickets available for the event, starting at $17. Tickets can be purchased by telephone at 1-800-455-FANS or at the Track’s web site .

They like to rub it in the best way they can. It has been reported that NASCAR President Mike Helton sought out Brian Vickers to explain how they exaggerated the rules to take the win away from him at Texas so a Cup driver could win. Well, you can bet that Helton didn’t tell Vickers that, but if he had been honest with Vickers, that’s exactly what he would have told him. They can’t let the poor guy alone; they have to keep rubbing salt in his wounds.

To begin with, Brian DeHart is the director of the Busch Series, and it was his responsibility to talk with Vickers, not Heltons. Helton just likes to get his big Mafioso looking mug in front of the cameras and likes to see his name in print. Talk about an ego problem! At any rate, Vickers still disagrees with them, and for good cause, it was a bad call made by a bunch of self serving egotists! I’m surprised that the other egotist, Jim Hunter, hasn’t had more to say about it to get his mug in the news. I don’t have anything good to say about either of them, Vickers got the shaft, and there’s nothing that anyone from NASCAR can say or do to make me believe otherwise.

Who said good things go the rich? We’re all aware of the problems Kyle Busch had racing in NASCAR. He was scheduled to race in an event in California but was denied because the race was sponsored by a tobacco company and Busch was only 16 at the time. The tobacco settlement forbade anyone under the age of 18 from participating in any event that was sponsored by a tobacco company. NASCAR then initiated the rule that a participant had to be 18 years of age to enter any NASCAR sanctioned event.

At the time Busch was to race in California, he was under the umbrella of Roush Racing, the organization his brother Kurt races for. He had decided to bide his time and return to Roush Racing when he was of age to participate in NASCAR. This was the case earlier this winter when plans were being made to put him back in one of Roush’s trucks. The next thing we knew, Kyle Busch had signed with Hendricks Motorsports, one of the richest and most successful teams in NASCAR.

Hendrick had planned some ARCA races and some Busch races for Kyle when he turned 18 in May of 2003. The news was just released that Ditech.com, a subsidiary of GMAC, which is a division of General Motors, was going to be sponsoring young Busch in one of NEMCO Motorsports No. 87 Chevrolets in the Busch Series. NEMCO is Joe and Andrea Nemechek. Joe is presently driving the No. 25 Chevy for Hendrick, and is now furnishing a ride for Busch under the Hendrick Motorsports umbrella.

The young Busch has already entered an ARCA race at Nashville and won it for Hendrick Motorsports, as ARCA doesn’t have the 18 year old age limit. This win was a big plus for his career, and probably one of the factors drawing Ditech.com to sponsor his ride. Everyone wants to sponsor a winner, problem is, there’s only one winner in a race, and a lot of drivers and teams to be sponsored.

Busch will race six races in the No. 87 Chevy beginning with the Busch Series event at Charlotte on May 24th. He will also race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Darlington, Dover, Atlanta, and North Carolina Speedway.

Next week the Busch Series travels to Fontana, California for race No. 9 on the California Speedway. The CaliforniaSpeedway.com 300 will be held on Saturday, April 26th and will be televised live by the FOX channel at 4 p.m. Eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised live by the SPEED channel at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 25th at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Last season’s winner of the California race was Rookie Scott Riggs. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Green, Stacy Compton, Jack Sprague, Jason Keller, Mike McLaughlin, Tim Sauter, Michael Waltrip, Randy LaJoie, and Greg Biffle.

Last season’s pole starting position was set by owner’s points due to inclement weather. There were seven caution periods for 30 laps out of the 150 lap event.

4/26/03……….. The minority team of HRT Motorsports also known as Team SELCA Racing has partnered with Jay Robinson Racing to enter Robinson’s No. 49 Ford in the California Busch Race.

Carlos Contreras will be making his first start as a Busch Series driver. He raced on the Fontana, California track in a truck race in 1999 qualifying 14th and finishing 12th. The No. 49 car is 29th in points which may help Contreras get into the race if he fails to qualify with speed. There will be several Winston Cup drivers qualifying for the race so it remains to be seen how the minority driver will make out.

The Spanish language version of FOX Sports channel will be doing a big exposé on Contreras, following his every move while he is at the California track. It is expected to be hyped up for the Mexican American audiences. The Fox Sports Espanol and the Citizen Watch Company will sponsor the No. 49 team’s effort.

Contreras finished 26th at California, keeping his nose clean and abiding by the learning curve. He finished the race three laps down, but was running at the end, which is a feat that some of regular Busch Series drivers failed to accomplish.

The rookie point’s standings in the Busch Series after the first eight races have Chad Blount, driver of the No. 19 APP Gas sponsored Braun Racing’s Dodge, at the top of the heap with 87 points.

Coming along right on his heals is Coy Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 MBNA sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chevy, with 85 points, just two points out of the lead. The California race could make a change in the top spot, as could any race coming up in the near future.

The third place driver, Regan Smith, pilot of the No. 22 Bost Motorsports Chevy, is quite a ways out of the running with just 48 points. Smith doesn’t have a very tight lock on third place with Chase Montgomery, driver of the No. 27 Brewco Motorsports Pontiac sponsored by Alice Cooper Motorsports, right on his heels with 45 points. Fifth place driver, Chris Bingham in the No. 39 Jay Robinson Ford, is hounding them both with 44 points. Third place is up for grabs with only four points separating three drivers, and first place is also up for grabs with only two points separating the top two drivers.

Up to this point, the most consistent finisher in the rookie class has been Coy Gibbs. He has three top rookie finishes of 14th and one ninth place finish compared to Blount’s 11th and fifth top rookie finish. Chase Montgomery has a top finish of 22nd and David Stremme has a seventh place finish. Stremme is at the bottom of the pack in seventh place with 15 points beneath Damon Lusk with 26 points in sixth place.

Kasey Kahne was the top Busch Series finisher, crossing the finish line in third place, followed by Busch regular Jason Keller and Shane Hmiel who finished seventh and eighth. David Green was next in line followed by Ron Hornaday Jr. who rounded out the top ten finishers. Starting this week, I’m not going to recognize the Cup interlopers who hog the money and glory away from the regular Busch Series drivers. Let someone else bring them their glory.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kevin Harvick -- No. 21 Chevy – finished 3rd
2. Michael Waltrip -- No. 99 Chevy – finished 2nd
3. Ron Hornaday -- No. 2 Chevy – finished 10th
4. Davie Reutimann -- No. 87 Chevy -- finished 11th
5. Stacy Compton -- No. 59 Chevy – finished 21st
6. Brian Vickers -- No. 5 Chevy – finished 19th
7. *Chad Blount -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 33rd
8. Johnny Sauter -- No. 43 Chevy – finished 23rd
9. Kasey Kahne -- No. 38 Ford – finished 4th
10. David Green -- No. 37 Pontiac – finished 9th

Todd Bodine is still leading the Busch Series point’s standings, but without a sponsor it remains how much longer his lead will hold up. Busch Series regular Ron Hornaday is in second place with a -99, followed by David Green -102, Shane Hmiel -110, Mike Bliss -145, Jason Keller -158, and Jamie McMurray -168. All of these drivers remained the same as last week in the standings. Kasey Kahne moved up three spots to eighth with a -221 while Scott Riggs remained in ninth with a -222. Johnny Sauter dropped down two spots to round out the top ten with a -229.

Next week the Busch Series travels to Richmond, Virginia’s Richmond International Speedway for the Hardee’s 250. The season’s first event under the lights is scheduled to be broadcast live by the FX channel on Friday, May 2nd at 7 PM Eastern.

Last season’s Hardee’s 250 was won by Jason Keller. He was followed across the finish line by Ashton Lewis Jr., Greg Biffle, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Grubb, Hank Parker Jr., rookie Brian Vickers, Scott Wimmer, Jamie McMurray, and Tim Sauter.

The field was set for last season’s event via owners points due to inclement weather canceling out qualifying. There were 11 caution periods for 83 laps out of the 187.5 mile 250 lap race.