Payback from Brad Keselowski wouldn’t surprise Kyle Busch

Saturday Charlotte Notebook

Payback from Brad Keselowski wouldn’t surprise Kyle Busch

Oct. 12, 2013

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

CONCORD, N.C.—After knocking Brad Keselowski’s Ford into the fence in last Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch said he wouldn’t be shocked if Keselowski retaliates in an upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.

“Probably, for Brad being who Brad is, I guess I should be worried, because he’s stupid enough to do something,” Busch told Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone Friday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive.”

Busch can’t forget the race at Watkins Glen in August 2012. With Busch in the lead, contact from Keselowski’s Ford sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota spinning two laps left. Subsequently, Busch narrowly missed qualifying for the Chase.

“In all reality, to myself, I guess I have more respect for drivers than that,” Busch said. “I got wrecked last year at Watkins Glen. He could have given me an inch, and we could have made it through that corner and not been spun out at Watkins Glen.

“And, yeah, I probably could have gave Brad an inch at Kansas, but when you’re raced as hard as you are, and you get side-drafted and doored down the front straightaway, all those things go out the window, and you start losing respect for that person, and the  next time you get to them, you just don’t care. That’s essentially what happened.

Busch has no regrets, but he indicated that payback from Keselowski might escalate the rivalry.

“I had an opportunity (at Kansas),” he said. “I could have lifted when I got tight. I just drove through the ‘tight.’ But, all in all, if he pays it back, he pays it back. That’ll just bring on a heck of a lot more fireworks.”

WADDELL WILSON HONORED

Before Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, crew chief and engine builder Waddell Wilson received the 2013 Smokey Yunick Award in recognition of his achievements in NASCAR racing.

Established in 1997 by legendary car owner and mechanic Henry “Smokey” Yunick, four years before his death, the annual award recognizes an individual who has risen from humble beginnings to make a major impact on the motorsports industry.

Wilson’s engines propelled drivers to more than 100 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories, but the win he remembers most fondly was Buddy Baker’s triumph in the 1980 Daytona 500.

“The engine Baker won the Daytona 500 with, I remember building that engine five times—and working week after week on that body and the rolling resistance,” Wilson said. “That was probably the most perfect race car I was ever involved with.

“Back then, we didn’t have all the templates they have today. There were areas you could work in. I studied everything I could about that race car… Everybody always said it was the engine. Yeah, it had a lot of horsepower, but that wasn’t the only thing about that race car.”

GOOD NEWS FOR KENTUCKY

Quaker State has extended its title sponsorship of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Rusty Barron, vice president of marketing for the Quaker State brand announced Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

That takes the Quaker State 400 entitlement through 2018. Quaker State has sponsored the race since Kentucky Speedway was added to the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule in 2011.

“We felt it was time to take advantage of what we’ve seen there for the last three years,” Barron said.

Barron indicated the proximity of numerous large television markets, the location of the speedway within a critical mass of Quaker State customers and the track’s status as a new NASCAR venue all contributed to the company’s decision to extend the sponsorship.