All Is Forgiven In Waltrip / Mears Wreck

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 served by picapp.com

Incase some of you may have forgotten already, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch were not the only two drivers involved in an emotion-filled accident this past Saturday night in Richmond. As you might recall, back on lap 352 of the Dan Lowry 400, Casey Mears clipped the side of Michael Waltrip’s no. 55 NAPA Autoparts Toyota Camry, knocking him into the wall and giving the car considerable damage. As retaliation, Waltrip kept driving and immediately clung to the back of Mears’ car, giving him an extra bit of a push down the track. Without hesitation, NASCAR immediately ordered Waltrip to park his car for the 48 remaining laps, an order that Waltrip was receiving for the first time in his professional racing career.

Both drivers were on-hand for Monday’s testing session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (follow the link for a report on the testing session), and neither driver appeared to be carrying the extra weight of ill feelings over the mishap. Mears claimed that for him it was simply a breakdown in communication between he and his spotter that initiated the accident, and that he simply had no idea that the 55 car was there.

Waltrip stated, “It was just an accident, and Casey’s a good dude. I know he didn’t do it on purpose, and sometimes when somebody does something that I viewed as being pretty stupid, that will make you madder than if someone did something on purpose … I lost my cool for a split second and ran into the back of him.”

NASCAR stated that no additional penalties or fines will be given to Waltrip for his reckless behavior.

For more on this story, go read:
NASCAR’s Waltrip, Mears Make Nice After Richmond Wreck over at the Herald Net and Richmond’s Two Other Controversies over at NASCAR Ranting and Raving

In Other News:
- After dominating the first 381 laps of the Dan Lowry 400, Denny Hamlin suffered grave misfortunes when he felt a tire starting to go down. As a result, Denny limped his no. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the track for a few more laps before finally deciding to park it in the middle of turns three and four. Hamlin’s decision to stop his car on the track and intentionally draw the caution flag also managed to draw the wrath of NASCAR, to which they handed down a two-lap penalty to Hamlin. Following the race, NASCAR stated that the black flag on the 11 team was sufficient penalty, and that they, too, would not be the recipient of any further fines or penalties.

- NASCAR’s most popular star, Dale Earnhardt Jr, was recently offered a check for $100,000 from Texas Motor Speedway track owner, Eddie Gossage, to compete in the IndyCar Series race at Texas on June 7th.  When asked about the offer from the media, Junior responded by sarcastically stating, “Well, he thinks I’m a cheap date, I guess.” Gossage apparently hasn’t taken Earnhardt’s response as a direct no, and is apparently still pursuing the notion of getting Earnhardt to compete in the race.