COPPER HILL, VA :: 2014 was certainly a season headlined by rivalries – from Martinsville to the battle for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship. Some drivers didn’t make friends because of their “take no prisoners” driving style, others carried over ill feelings for weeks and even years. Here are the 10 best rivalries of the 2014 season.
10. Championship Protest
Controversy seemed to follow Anthony Anders around all season long, not just at Greenville-Pickens Speedway but also at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Anders and Sam Yarbrough scored victories in the season finale, securing the track championship for Yarbrough, but their cars failed postrace inspection which would have allowed Justin Milliken, who passed tech, to win the championship. The results were later upheld, resulting in Yarbrough winning the championship.
9. Brawl at Kingsport
Zeke Shell said of the racing action at Kingsport Speedway, “You’re going to go to a fight and watch a race break out”.
That was literally true for the opening race of the season at Kingsport Speedway. Chad Finchum and Blake Jones both went around after the two made contact battling for position. Both cars headed for the pits with heavy damage. Jones rejoined the race, followed shortly by an angry Finchum who then retaliated by cutting Jones off, tearing the front end of his car apart. Before Finchum was even able to bring his car to pit road, an altercation broke out between the two teams. Track officials and police officers scrambled to break up the fight, then prevented Jones and Finchum from any potential altercation. The red flag had to be displayed so track officials could restore order. Jones and his team were asked to leave the premises after the fight, prompting another red flag (so the team could leave).
8. Vintage Earnhardt
“I used an old Earnhardt move and got by him” — Anthony Anders
A feud that’s lasted several seasons once again took center stage at Greenville-Pickens Speedway once again in 2014. The two drivers found themselves battling for the lead in a mid-Summer event at Greenvile-Pickens. Anders, trying to get around Porter, executed a bump-and-run, which he called an “Earnhardt move” to get around Porter to win the race. Porter slammed in to Anders on the cool down lap and Anders retaliated by turning Porter around and proceeding to victory lane. Porter was parked for the night after the post-race incident.
7. Not Making Friends
“I don’t know if I want to ruin everyone’s day because of that. But if the opportunity presents itself, I’m going to have some tough decisions to make.” — Myatt Snider
Myatt Snider didn’t make many friends in his sophomore season. After scoring a victory at Southern National Motorsports Park, Snider fired a verbal shot toward David Garbo, Jr., drawing a response from Garbo and Dana Yelton, wife of Garbo’s car owner Jamie Yelton, on Twitter in which they said Snider should worry about his own driving. Then, at Martinsville, Snider called his shot, saying he would do whatever it took to win the MDCU 300.
Contact in a regular season race at Southern National left Tommy Lemons, Jr. with a sour taste – something that evidently wasn’t forgotten when, in the Autumn Classic, he punted Snider on a restart. In the same race, Snider was also involved in an on-track altercation with the normally calm Mike Darne who also used his chrome horn to express displeasure.
Hey, racers are out to win, not make friends, right?
6. Out of Nowhere
“My car’s better off than his car is and it’s going to stay that way next week.” — Wesley Thomason
A rivalry came out of nowhere at Franklin County Speedway as Eric Winslow, who had some sort of beef with Wesley Thomason, drove straight into turn one to wreck Thomason, causing a spectacular crash that left Winslow’s car parked on its side against the wall. Thomason responded by hurling his helmet at Winslow while crew members from both teams got in an altercation in the pits. Winslow said he was upset with Thomason over something that happened in a U-CAR race (huh?) while Thomason was left confused as to what triggered the feud.
5. Action and Reaction
“He showed me, didn’t he? He’s sitting there parked and we won the race. It worked out in our favor and maybe it will make him do some thinking when he’s spending that money.” — Kyle Dudley
Two drivers that just don’t like each other are Brian Sutphin and Kyle Dudley. The feud started on April 27th when, on the last lap, Kyle Dudley was turned while leading the race off the front bumper of Brian Sutphin. Sutphin said the contact wasn’t deliberate while Dudley disagreed. Three weeks later, Dudley would get his revenge when, on lap 46, Sutphin wrecked off the front bumper of Dudley’s car. Sutphin drove by Dudley and gestured him. After the second incident, the two drivers had a “Japanese Inspection” meeting with track promoter Langley Austin and the two played nice in the Memorial Day Classic.
4. Showdown in Greenville
“I felt like we were the fastest legal car there.” — Lee Pulliam
Lee Pulliam and Travis Kiker made the decision to travel to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in July, creating a championship showdown between Anthony Anders and Pulliam. Anders went on to win both races over Pulliam. The real drama occurred in the tech shed after the race. Pulliam and Kiker protested the “droop” on Anders’ car. Kiker then got in a shouting match with Anders and track owner Kevin Whitaker, claiming Whitaker wouldn’t allow the protest. Kiker was eventually escorted out of the track. Anders’ victories were upheld.
3. McCaskill Leaves Southern National
Two times, Deac McCaskill scored victories at Southern National Motorsports Park. Both times, he was disqualified. After the disqualification, he promised he wouldn’t return to Southern National … and he didn’t. McCaskill, the two-time defending track champion, elected to race at East Carolina Motor Speedway and South Boston Speedway (along with a couple appearances at Langley Speedway) instead.
2. Immune to Karma?
Martinsville has always been a bit of a wreckfest but it sure is memorable when one of the race’s top contenders, and a former winner of the race, is wrecked on the first lap … of a heat race. That’s what happened to Jamey Caudill as he, and several other drivers, were involved in a wreck on the first lap which was triggered by contact from Kres VanDyke. Caudill’s day was done. VanDyke was not.
“I don’t give a damn what he thinks, he’s a dumbass” — Jamey Caudill
VanDyke repaired his car, made it to the Last Chance Qualifier and once again found himself in an incident, this time with Jake Crum. Battling for the final transfer spot, the two wrecked coming to the line, adding Crum to the list of drivers who were upset with VanDyke. Crum won the battle but lost the war – the damage to his car was too much to repair. VanDyke’s team, on the other hand, once again performed a superhuman task and got his car repaired so he could run in the feature race.
1. The 2014 NWAAS National Championship
Car counts are integral to winning the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship. Throughout the years, it’s become common for championship contenders to field additional “start-and-park” racecars to beef up the car count. After being burned by the game for years, Anders finally decided to play the game and advanced it to a whole new level. That left Lee Pulliam and an always outspoken Keith Rocco frustrated throughout the season.
“With that being said, I’d like to congratulate our champion, Anthony Anders, and his entire team – including the 36, the 36x, the 36xx, the 01x and the 1x. Great job, guys.” — Keith Rocco
On several occasions, both drivers spoke out about Anders and his fleet of start-and-park cars. Pulliam railed against Anders in interviews with media outlets and post-race victory lane interviews. Rocco was, as to be expected, very vocal in media interviews, social interviews and even in his acceptance speech at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series awards banquet where he scripted a hilarious speech roasting Anders.
While the two drivers constantly spoke out about Anders, Anders adopted a Honey Badger attitude and laughed off the criticism as he relished in the role as the villain. He even cheered and applauded as he was introduced to an orchestra of jeers at Martinsville.
