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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Loose Lugnuts - Mistakes Or Sabotage?
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon had lugnuts loose prior to CMS race...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted May 22, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Toyota Tundra/Z-Line Designs Toyota, leads the field during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Kyle Busch’s team discovered his truck had loose lugnuts on a wheel prior to the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday night. That seemed strange, considering Busch reported nothing wrong with the car in qualifying and the trucks were impounded following his pole-sitting lap.

Busch’s team wondered if somebody had possibly loosened the lugnuts on the truck.

While that seems bizarre, there’s more – Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon crashed 10 laps into the NASCAR Camping World race after a wheel came loose. Dillon’s truck was parked behind Busch’s in the impound area.

“All we know was as soon as the race was over, we sat all of our people down in the truck,” team owner Richard Childress said. “Every one of them knew the lugnuts were torqued before qualifying. We qualified and the cars were covered up and it rained and everything else. I think we were parked right behind Kyle, and our left side lugnuts were loose and the left rear – [Austin] was lucky it didn’t come off and hurt him.”

Busch’s team tightened the lugnuts prior to the race and he eventually won. He differed to crew chief Eric Phillips when asked about it following the race.

“I don’t have a good answer,” Phillips said. “We’re 99 percent sure they were tight. As loose as the wheel was, there was no way he could have qualified. What happened? I don’t know. We fixed it, addressed it and it didn’t hinder us on what we did tonight.

“We’ll do a better job our guys are around our vehicles and keep an eye on things when they’re sitting outside the garage area.”

Dillon said he also was unsure what happened.

“They left the left rear lugs loose,” Dillon said. “We don’t know what happened. I guess Kyle Busch had trouble with his, too, before the race. I don’t know if we didn’t check ’em or what or if it was like that in qualifying.”

Phillips was unaware of Dillon’s problem.

“I don’t know what to say about it,” Phillips said. “I don’t really want to [talk about it] – I don’t know what happened.”

Camping World Truck Series Director Wayne Auton declined to comment on the lugnut issues.

“We have to think possibly that we just left them loose although our guys say they know they torqued them,” Childress said.

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Bob Pockrass

SceneDaily.com

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