MYRTLE BEACH, SC :: Annabeth Barnes was fined $1,000 by Myrtle Beach Speedway track officials after her qualifying time was disallowed on Thursday night due to a tire infraction. In a statement released Monday, the track suggested the team had removed a barcode from a scuff purchased from the track’s inventory and placed it on another tire. Barnes denied the track’s assertions, suggesting there was a problem with the barcode scanners.
“This is the first I’ve heard of the fine,” Barnes said. “You’re informing me.”
The track requires teams purchase two new tires and two scuffed tires from the track’s inventory. The barcodes on the tires are recorded in to the track’s barcode scanner.
“The two scuffs mounted on the right side (of Barnes’ car) failed to read on the scanner following qualifying as those issued for the nights racing,” the Myrtle Beach Speedway statement reads. “The tires were removed from the car for closer inspection. The bar codes had been tampered with. This indicated they had been removed from another tire and placed on the tire carcasses that had been impounded. It appeared they had been glued to the tire. The area of the bar code stickers was jagged and irregular with the appearance of glue residue around them. The bar codes were unreadable by the scanner or naked eye or magnification. All tires issued from the track are scanned and legible.”
Barnes was fined $500 for each tire, totaling $1,000 in fines. The track says she must pay the fine before returning to competition at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Barnes, who said she’d like to return to the track, said she disagreed with the tire policy as a whole and, while she likes racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway, claims the team had been treated poorly by the track all night.
“I like the track and I like driving there,” Barnes explained. “The only thing that’s a disadvantage to outsiders at Myrtle Beach is the way they have their tire program set up. I don’t agree with the way we were treated when we were there. The way they handled the situation wasn’t very good. They are used tires. The way we saw it, the barcodes were there and everything was correct. After the race, they tried to say one of the tires they gave us after qualifying wasn’t correct. I don’t know if there was a problem with the scanners. We plan to go back there though. I want to return there, sit on the pole again and see how it goes. It was a surprise to me to qualify on the pole. I don’t understand what went wrong.”
For Barnes, it’s just the latest setback in what has been a very difficult season for the rookie driver competing in her first season in the Late Model Stock Car ranks. She usually competes at Hickory Motor Speedway for Rev Racing while also competing at other tracks with her own team. While Barnes has had fast cars, she has been swept up in accidents and suffered mechanical failures several times this season.
“We’ve had a rough season,” Barnes commented. “We’ve had a lot of bad luck… a lot of wrecks that weren’t necessarily my fault, just wrong place at the wrong time. We’ve had an engine blow. It’s just been bad luck in Rev Racing cars and in my cars. Moving on, all I can do is hope for the best, keep our head up and try to keep improving. It seems like the world is trying to get me down but all I can do is keep my confidence, believe in myself and keep doing what I’m doing. Eventually, my luck’s going to turn around. Ever driver has bad seasons and this has been one of mine but I’m learning these cars. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be moving up to Late Models. Rev’s helped me a lot with that.”
Barnes competed at Myrtle Beach Speedway with her team, not Rev Racing. Her most recent race with Rev Racing came on June 15th at Hickory Motor Speedway where she posted her best career NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model victory.
“The last race with Rev, I finished fourth,” Barnes stated. “We’ve been getting better. The cars are getting better. I’m getting better. Going in to the next race at Motor Mile (on Saturday night), I think we’ll be pretty good.”
