9/6/03……….. Johnny Sauter didn’t let the Buschwhackers take the win away from a Busch Series driver in the Saturday night race at Richmond. He Buschwhacked Matt Kenseth into the outside wall coming out of the fourth turn heading for the checkered flag. While I don’t condone that type of driving, and for the most part not many true stock car racing fans do, it kind of seems justified when Cup drivers take control of the lesser series. I believe it was Bobby Hamilton Jr. who set the stage by stating that Cup drivers should be “stomped into the mud.”

In Sauter’s defense, there was a lot of bumping and banging going on between the leaders on the final laps in the wild seven lap shoot-out that ensued after the last caution period. This usually happens in those circumstances where cars race three wide into corners that are only wide enough for two. With seven laps remaining, most drivers race all out for their chance to take the checkered flag. If they don’t, then they shouldn’t be there to begin with.

At any rate, that’s pretty much what happened on the last lap of the Richmond race, with Cup point’s leader Kenseth going into the wall out of the lead and ending up finishing sixth. The win was the first for Sauter this season and the second of the young racer’s career. Sauter was piloting the second entry for Richard Childress Racing, the No. 43 Channellock Chevy. Sauter’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, stated that “I’m so dang proud of Johnny that I can’t hardly stand it.”

Harvick was first to follow Sauter across the finish line, along with Bobby Hamilton Jr., Brian Vickers, David Green, and finally Matt Kenseth finishing sixth. Ron Hornaday, Tony Raines, Cup driver Dave Blaney, and Shane Hmiel rounded out the top ten finishers.

The starting lineup was set by drivers points due to inclement weather. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kevin Harvick -- No. 21 Chevy – finished 2nd
2. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford – finished 29th
3. David Green -- No. 37 Pontiac – finished 5th
4. Brian Vickers -- No. 5 Chevy -- finished 4th
5. Jason Keller -- No. 57 Ford – finished 21st
6. Ron Hornaday -- No. 2 Chevy – finished 7th
7. David Stremme* -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 13th
8. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- No. 25 Ford – finished 3rd
9. Shane Hmiel -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 10th
10. Scott Wimmer -- No. 23 Chevy – finished 16th

The driver’s point’s battle is as close as it’s ever been in Busch Series racing history. In other years, especially like the year that Jeff Green won before entering the Cup Series, the point’s winner had a 600 point lead on the rest of the contenders. Not so this season, as the top five are only separated by 111 points.

David Green moved up one spot to sit atop of the heap with 3583 points, followed by Cup bound Brian Vickers who also moved up one spot listed, with a deficit of -48 points. Scott Riggs dropped down two spots from the lead to sit in third with a -65 followed by Ron Hornaday who moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -74. Jason Keller dropped down one spot to round out the top five with a -111.

Positions six thru ten are: Bobby Hamilton Jr., -297; +1 Johnny Sauter, -410; -1 Shane Hmiel, -423; +1 Kasey Kahne, -494; and -1 Scott Wimmer, -504.

Next week the Busch Series has an off weekend. They don’t go to New Hampshire with the Cup and Truck Series. They will be back in action at Dover International Speedway on September 20th. After Dover, they will have another week off before going to Kansas during the first week of October. I’ll have a rundown on last years Busch Series Dover race in next week’s article.

9/15/03……….. The Busch Series heads into The Monster Mile to shake down the driver’s point’s system on the one mile high banked concrete oval. The points are closer than they have ever been in the history of the Busch Series with the top five only separated by a mere 111 points. Any one of the five drivers, leader David Green, Brian Vickers, Scott Riggs, veterans Ron Hornaday and Jason Keller, could come away with the brass ring this season.

It’s kind of doubtful that Hornaday or Keller will take the points lead this week, as Hornaday is listed with -74 points and Keller is saddled with a -111 point deficit, but they could move up the ladder at Dover putting them in position to take the lead at Kansas on October 4th.

Veteran David Green is a former champion of the series, having won the title in 1994. He’s a wily competitor, and has lots of experience and a few of the veteran’s tricks up his sleeve. Scott Riggs is the acting Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the series and is trying his best to top that with a championship as a follow up to his successful rookie season. Brian Vickers is in his sophomore season and has already acquired a Cup ride for one of the top teams on the Cup circuit, so you can rest assured that he will be trying his best to put some stats on the board in his favor.

Next week the Busch Series moves on to the Dover International Speedway, as I stated above, for race No. 27 on their 34 race schedule. The Stacker 200 is scheduled to be televised by the TNT channel on Saturday, September 20th, at 1 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, September 19th at 1 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the September Dover race was Scott Wimmer. He was followed across the finish line by Mike McLaughlin, Jack Sprague, Jeff Green, Jason Keller, Jimmy Spencer, Randy LaJoie, Tim Sauter, Kenny Wallace, and rookie Shane Hmiel.

Kevin Lepage won the Bud pole award with a speed of 155.757 miles per hour. There were four caution periods for a total of 19 laps out of the 200 lap race on the one mile concrete oval.

9/20/03……….. I was really shocked to hear of up-and-coming star Shane Hmiel’s demise in NASCAR racing. This young lad had the world by the horns, and now he’s out on his duff.

Hmiel was released this past Tuesday from his driving duties in the No. 48 Innovative Motorsports Chevy. NASCAR announced Thursday that Hmiel failed a required random drug test that was administered to him after the Richmond race. Hmiel is now suspended from driving in any type of NASCAR competition until he goes through a rehabilitation program and proves to NASCAR that he’s clean by random testing over an unspecified period of time.

Jeff Green, a guest on a call in radio program, stated that he would be driving the No. 48 Chevy in the Busch race at Dover and would more than likely be taking over the driving duties for the remainder of the season. Green is currently out of a full time ride in the Cup Series following his stint this summer in the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevy for Dale Earnhardt Inc (DEI).

It’s really hard to understand how these sports stars can give up multi-million dollar careers for the use of controlled substances. We’ve see it rampant among football and baseball players, but very little of it in racing. There have been some suspensions handed down by NASCAR in the past, but usually those drivers who were suspended were drivers in the lesser series who were trying to work their way up.

Shane Hmiel was at the pinnacle of his career, destined for a permanent Cup ride in the near future. His father, Steve, is the director of competition for DEI and there has been speculation that Shane was a shoo-in for a ride in the No. 1 Chevy since there hasn’t been a permanent driver named for that ride for the 2004 season. Shane has made the acquaintance of most of the people in the DEI organization due to his father’s employment there, and was the number one candidate for the Cup ride.

Out of the 26 Busch Series starts this season, Hmiel has 1 Bud pole award, four top five, and ten top ten finishes. He won the pole for the Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park, finished third at Texas and Talladega, and finished fourth at Indianapolis and Bristol.

Now, the young star’s racing career has been put on hold. The money and glory is just a dream gone wrong until Hmiel gets his priorities in order. Maybe one of these days he’ll clean up his act and prove to NASCAR that he’s worthy of another chance to be a professional race driver.

Brian Vickers won the Stacker 200 at Dover, taking his third victory in the last six races. The Hendricks Motorsports team got Vickers out first in the final series of pit stops under caution with less then thirty laps remaining, and Vickers kept the No. 5 GMAC sponsored Chevy out in front to take the checkered flag.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. followed Vickers across the finish line ahead of Scott Riggs, Kasey Kahne, Mike Bliss, Ron Hornaday, Ashton Lewis, Jason Keller, Kevin Harvick, and Mike Wallace. As most of you know by now, qualifying was canceled along with other Dover Intl. Speedway activities on the 18th and 19th due the impending trouncing from hurricane/tropical storm Isabel. The top ten starters according to owner’s points, and how they finished:

1. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 9th
2. David Green -- No. 37 Pontiac – finished 31st
3. Brian Vickers -- No. 5 Chevy – finished 1st
4. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford -- finished 3rd
5. Ron Hornaday -- No. 2 Chevy – finished 6th
6. Jason Keller -- No. 57 Ford – finished 8th
7. David Stremme* -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 21st
8. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- No. 25 Ford -- finished 2nd
9. Jeff Green -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 39th
10. Kasey Kahne -- No. 38 Ford – finished 4th

The top five in driver’s points have moved around some, but the same drivers are in the top five and now they are only separated by 106 points as opposed to the 111 points before the Dover race. Brian Vickers moved up one spot into the lead with his win, now listed with 3720 points. Scott Riggs also moved up one spot to second and is listed with -32 points down from the lead. Ron Hornaday moved up one spot to third listed with a -67. Scott Riggs unceremonious bumping of David Green into the wall dropped Green down three spots to fourth listed with a -67. Jason Keller is still in fifth place with a -106. Point’s positions six thru ten: Bobby Hamilton Jr., -264; Johnny Sauter, -471; +1 Kasey Kahne, -471; -2 Shane Hmiel, -560. Stacy Compton is also listed with a -560 and is listed in the 11th position. Hmiel is no longer part of the Busch Series this season and will most likely drop like a rock in points with seven races remaining.

Next week the Busch Series has another open weekend. They will see action again in two weeks at Kansas Speedway.

9/29/03……….. Shelby Howard, the new racing phenomenon from the ARCA series will soon be wending his way into Busch Series racing. The 18 year old star is scheduled to enter the Mr. Goodcents 300 at the Kansas Speedway on October 4th. Howard will be piloting the No. 14 Curb Records Dodge for Curb/Agajanian Motorsports, and will have the experience of the No. 77 Jasper Motorsports Cup crew over the wall in his behalf.

We’ll have to keep close tabs on Howard, he may very well end up being one of the future young guns in Cup racing that’s coming up to replace the old veterans. I won’t mention any names per say, but some of the veterans desperately need to seek retirement and make way for the up and coming stars of tomorrow.

I’m wondering what the deal is concerning the finances of the Busch Series. If the finances are so bad and the teams are losing money like they constantly nag and complain about, why then do successful racers undertake new Busch Series teams?

Recently Rusty Wallace announced his upcoming new Busch Series team for 2004. Wallace isn’t a slouch where finances are concerned. He didn’t get that private jet of his with the big RW symbol on its door by being financially challenged. Do these people who have successful racing backgrounds start up Busch Series teams just to use as a tax dodge because they know that they are going to lose money?

It’s a possibility, that’s for sure, but is it a probability? Most would tell you no. No one in business wants to admit having a legitimate tax dodge in place, although there isn’t any law against owning or buying an enterprise that you know is going to lose money. Lots of ego generated businessmen do it as a challenge, thinking that they have the ability to turn the losing enterprise around, where others didn’t.

Another thing we need to consider as outsiders to the racing business world, is how much these Busch Series team owners are actually making from their sponsors as opposed to what they have to spend to maintain their team and employee structure. We aren’t privy to the amounts dollars associated to sponsors contracts, along with the commercial advertising comes along with the package. There has to be some way where these Busch Series team owners are making ends meet, or they wouldn’t be able to keep afloat. When you see these race cars and trucks in the Busch and Truck Series racing week after week without a sponsor, it makes you wonder just how wealthy these people are who are constantly crying poverty.

Next week the Busch Series continues with race No. 28 on its 34 race 2003 schedule at Kansas Speedway. The Mr. Goodcents 300 is scheduled to be televised live by the NBC channel on Saturday, October 4th at 2 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event is slated to be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, October 3rd, at 2:30 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the Mr. Goodcents 300 held on September 28th was Cup driver Jeff Burton. He was followed across the finish line by rookie Kerry Earnhardt, Cup driver Joe Nemechek, Greg Biffle, Tony Raines, Jimmy Spencer, Jeff Green, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Lyndon Amick, and Jamie McMurray.

Cup driver Michael Waltrip won the Bud pole award with a qualifying speed of 174.831 miles per hour. There were nine caution periods for a total of 39 laps out of the 300 mile 200 lap race on the 1.5 mile oval.