CONCORD, N.C. — The angry Kyle Busch was
back. The driver who always seems to run up front, yet can also come
unglued at any moment, had parked his mangled car within inches of Denny
Hamlin's hauler.
The All-Star race was still going on late
Saturday night, but car owner Joe Gibbs knew he had to act immediately
to avoid a potentially season-altering crisis.
The week began with talk of Busch or Hamlin,
who have combined to win five of the last seven Sprint Cup points races,
perhaps finally ending Jimmie Johnson's four-year reign as series
champion.
It would be more difficult to do if these Joe
Gibbs Racing teammates were rolling around on the floor trading punches,
since Busch had just declared on the radio that, "I swear to God, I am
going to kill (him)."
Gibbs hustled to catch up to Busch, who climbed
out of his ruined car, punched the air and stormed into Hamlin's
trailer. Hamlin was still on the track, but Busch was waiting to
confront him for his move with eight laps left that caused Busch to hit
the wall and end his chances of winning $1 million.
Gibbs, the Super Bowl-winning coach with the
Washington Redskins before switching sports, relied heavily on his
people skills.
"I think in pro sports, if you've been on the
sidelines or you've been in racing you're going to have people get mad
about things," Gibbs said. "It's spur of the moment type things. I think
what was much more meaningful is we met in there."
Not before forming a plan. Gibbs joined Busch
in Hamlin's hauler. After Busch's brother, Kurt, won the race and Hamlin
finished fourth, Hamlin was told to park his car at the edge of the
garage. He was met by several team members, and escorted to the suddenly
crowded hauler.
Gibbs had ordered the incident — in which
Hamlin tried to block his teammate's attempt to pass him for the lead in
the closing laps — cued up on their video monitor.
At first, Busch had no use for watching TV.
"It was the old Kyle for a little while,"
Hamlin said, referring to the hothead reputation Busch has been trying
to shed of late. "Then the new Kyle came and met with us."
With Gibbs mediating, Hamlin and Busch watched
the video and told their sides.
"Kyle brought up a great point. What should we
expect when we come to this race?" Hamlin said. "Do we need to have a
meeting beforehand and say, 'OK, we don't share the same jerseys today,
is it every man for himself?' My feeling was, 10 laps to go, I'm afraid
so, we're not teammates. I think we both have an understanding of that
and it's good from here on forward.
"Kyle is the most talented person in this
garage and he gets it. He just gets a little hot under the collar
sometimes."
Gibbs, too, insisted the meeting ended
peacefully and with the issue behind them.
"You've got good cars. You've got good
drivers. It can happen between teammates because they're competitive and
both of them are wanting to win a race," he said. "We love that in both
guys."
Their insistence that the issue was resolved
would have been easier to believe if Busch hadn't sneaked out a side
door of the hauler, ran around the front away from where reporters had
gathered, and slipped in a side door of his own hauler.
And he wasn't joining in the happy talk. Busch
wasn't talking at all.
"He has a championship winning team and I have
a championship winning team," Hamlin said. "Our wheels are moving and
we don't need to put the brakes on, especially in an incident in a race
that doesn't matter anyway."
Indeed, all this turmoil and there were no
points on the line Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But
they'll be back at the same track next weekend for NASCAR's longest
race, the Coca-Cola 600.
Busch is second in the points standings and
Hamlin fifth. JGR seems poised to end Hendrick Motorsports' dominance in
this series – if its drivers can keep their cool.
"It's a good problem to have for our team,"
Hamlin insisted. "For two guys to be wanting to go for the win like they
are, it's all you can ask for. Myself, I'm so confident that one of the
two of us are going to win that 600 next weekend."
After a down year last season, by his
standards, Busch is rounding into form. He's won two of the past three
Sprint Cup races. He won the Truck Series race over the weekend for a
staggering 70th victory in NASCAR's top three series at age 25.
But Busch has had numerous run-ins in the
past. It was just three years ago that he was feuding with his brother,
Kurt, in this race, prompting Kurt Busch to joke that "I'm not eating
any Kellogg's any time soon," in reference to Kyle's sponsor.
Hamlin, too, had a dispute with former
teammate Tony Stewart in 2007. Gibbs cut short a vacation to mediate
that problem.
Gibbs was in the same role again late Saturday
night, and confident it won't linger.
"No, I don't have a knack," he said. "I think
what was real good was both of them wanted to talk it out, which was
good. We talked it out and I think we had a good discussion about it. I
think we're ready to go race the 600 and race as teammates."