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From NASCAR.com
Three of the six contenders for the NASCAR Busch Series championship rumpled their cars in Friday's Happy Hour practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Ron Hornaday was forced to go to a backup car.
Hornaday, who is third in the championship, 39 points behind leader Brian Vickers, flattened the right side of his No. 2 Chevrolet in the 1.5-mile speedway's Turn 1.
Hornaday's Richard Childress Racing team pulled out its backup, which Hornaday tested extensively here Tuesday, but Hornaday didn't return to the racetrack.
"We had just put new tires on it, filled it full of fuel and I was trying to get all I could," Hornaday said. "I drove it down in there, she turned pretty good and then it just wiggled and got into the fence. That's the first one (wreck) of the year.
"We're running for a championship and we can't afford to try to repair that one (primary) and overlook something. It knocked the crush panels out of it, moved the rear end and bent the suspension.
"We practiced that backup car and I thought that one was better so maybe they think I crashed this one on purpose. I hate it to start in the back, but it'll look better for the Chevrolet to come up through there."
Early in the session, fifth-place Scott Riggs and sixth-place Bobby Hamilton Jr. collided on the frontstretch as Hamilton passed Riggs.
Neither car spun and the body damage to each was minimal. Riggs' car had a black doughnut squarely on its left-side No. 10 and a second doughnut further back on the side panel. Neither fender was damaged.
Hamilton's car's side panel was dinged right behind the right front wheel. The damage on both cars was hammered out during practice and both continued. Hamilton ran 23 laps and was fastest in the session on his 11th lap.
"We got all the damage fixed, went back out there and took off," Hamilton said. "There wasn't much damage to our car."
Riggs ended up 31st and Hornaday, 27th.
The only thing Hamilton knew for sure was that Riggs would blame him, and he was right.
"Somebody thought when the green flag dropped in practice it was a race -- it wasn't," Riggs said. "That's exactly what I expect from somebody like him, which is pretty idiotic in my opinion."
Not surprisingly, Hamilton saw it differently.
"Heck, we were straight and that's the confusing part," Hamilton said. "I was on the inside of Scott going straight and we just hit. I don't know if he came down or I came up. What can you say?
"I know he's irritated because I think he got the worst end of it. It ain't like I did it on purpose because what's the point? I was trying to get into the corner alongside of him and we just barely touched."
Riggs said there was virtually no damage to his car, but that the incident definitely fired him up.
"I felt like it wasn't anything that affected the rest of our practice -- it just made me awful mad," Riggs said. "It messed up the aero and you definitely need that here."
"Hopefully somebody's got a tape of it," Hamilton said. "If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and if he's wrong, he's wrong. It's done with and let's go racing."
Riggs' crew chief, Doug Randolph said he had no real concerns about his car's suspension, and opted instead of switching to a backup car to practice. Riggs ultimately ran 31 laps.
Point leader Brian Vickers ended up fourth. Second-place David Green was sixth and fourth-place Jason Keller continued to struggle in 21st.
Three of the six contenders for the NASCAR Busch Series championship rumpled their cars in Friday's Happy Hour practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Ron Hornaday was forced to go to a backup car.
Hornaday, who is third in the championship, 39 points behind leader Brian Vickers, flattened the right side of his No. 2 Chevrolet in the 1.5-mile speedway's Turn 1.
Hornaday's Richard Childress Racing team pulled out its backup, which Hornaday tested extensively here Tuesday, but Hornaday didn't return to the racetrack.
"We had just put new tires on it, filled it full of fuel and I was trying to get all I could," Hornaday said. "I drove it down in there, she turned pretty good and then it just wiggled and got into the fence. That's the first one (wreck) of the year.
"We're running for a championship and we can't afford to try to repair that one (primary) and overlook something. It knocked the crush panels out of it, moved the rear end and bent the suspension.
"We practiced that backup car and I thought that one was better so maybe they think I crashed this one on purpose. I hate it to start in the back, but it'll look better for the Chevrolet to come up through there."
Early in the session, fifth-place Scott Riggs and sixth-place Bobby Hamilton Jr. collided on the frontstretch as Hamilton passed Riggs.
Neither car spun and the body damage to each was minimal. Riggs' car had a black doughnut squarely on its left-side No. 10 and a second doughnut further back on the side panel. Neither fender was damaged.
Hamilton's car's side panel was dinged right behind the right front wheel. The damage on both cars was hammered out during practice and both continued. Hamilton ran 23 laps and was fastest in the session on his 11th lap.
"We got all the damage fixed, went back out there and took off," Hamilton said. "There wasn't much damage to our car."
Riggs ended up 31st and Hornaday, 27th.
The only thing Hamilton knew for sure was that Riggs would blame him, and he was right.
"Somebody thought when the green flag dropped in practice it was a race -- it wasn't," Riggs said. "That's exactly what I expect from somebody like him, which is pretty idiotic in my opinion."
Not surprisingly, Hamilton saw it differently.
"Heck, we were straight and that's the confusing part," Hamilton said. "I was on the inside of Scott going straight and we just hit. I don't know if he came down or I came up. What can you say?
"I know he's irritated because I think he got the worst end of it. It ain't like I did it on purpose because what's the point? I was trying to get into the corner alongside of him and we just barely touched."
Riggs said there was virtually no damage to his car, but that the incident definitely fired him up.
"I felt like it wasn't anything that affected the rest of our practice -- it just made me awful mad," Riggs said. "It messed up the aero and you definitely need that here."
"Hopefully somebody's got a tape of it," Hamilton said. "If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and if he's wrong, he's wrong. It's done with and let's go racing."
Riggs' crew chief, Doug Randolph said he had no real concerns about his car's suspension, and opted instead of switching to a backup car to practice. Riggs ultimately ran 31 laps.
Point leader Brian Vickers ended up fourth. Second-place David Green was sixth and fourth-place Jason Keller continued to struggle in 21st.