NASCAR PR Report/Travis Barrett

Asehboro, NC(April 2, 2012) — Independence Day may still be a few months away, but the fireworks were at Caraway Speedway on Saturday night.

A restart shortly after the halfway break set up a battle at the front of the field, one that left Andy Seuss’ car both out of contention and destroyed. Contact with L.W. Miller’s machine as the two tried to make advances on eventual winner George Brunnhoelzl III, left both crews fuming with one another and plenty of hot tempers on a warm spring night.

And it was only the first of two consecutive races at Caraway to open the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour season.

“We are really, really fortunate to be teamed up with Ideal Racing and Eddie Harvey, to be able to come back with another car next week,” said Seuss, who won a pair of races at Caraway last season in the No. 11. “I don’t know if we’ll fix this car. I don’t know if it will ever be another car again. I don’t know what the future is (for it), but we’ll be back with a red No. 11 next week and we’re going to be even better.”

Brunnhoelzl was on the inside of the front row, with Seuss to his outside and Miller behind them in third as the field raced through Turns 1 and 2 on the Lap 95 restart. Contact sent sparks flying, and Seuss’ car hit the outside wall hard with the right front.

In Seuss’ mind, it was clear what had happened.

“I just got hit a ton from behind,” Seuss said. “From everybody I’ve spoken to, (Miller’s) wheels were turned right. Not shocking. You know, he used to be good, and he’s hanging on now. That’s fine. It’s just a shame for this car. It’s such a good car here.”

“Every restart, he was on the inside of me,” said Miller, who ended up third. “(Seuss) drove into me and ran me up the racetrack. So I told my guys, ‘I’m going to hold my ground.’ I didn’t drive up into him and run into him – when he went to chop me off, my right front was in his left rear and it sent him. I mean, he wrecked himself.

“I don’t know how they can be so upset, when every restart before that whenever he was on the inside of me, he would drive into the side of me. Don’t really care.”

Seuss exited his car and ran all the way along the track to confront Miller, who was parked on the frontstretch with the field under the red flag following the incident. Crew members from both teams had to be separated by officials in the infield.

Car owner Howard Harvey was emotional in Victory Lane, even as he celebrated the win by Brunnhoelzl.

“It’s a shame what happened with Andy tonight,” Harvey said. “With that piece of crap that drives the 88, what do you expect? He’s messed with the wrong people.”

Jason Myers had perhaps the best seat in the house, riding along right behind the involved parties, but he was willing to say it was a racing incident.

“I understand why they’re mad, because their race car is so torn up so bad,” Myers said of Seuss. “L.W. didn’t wreck him. L.W. might have got into him a little bit, but L.W. didn’t wreck him. I may be completely wrong. L.W. might have turned the steering wheel hard right, gassed up and wrecked him on purpose – but it didn’t look like it from where I was sitting.

“It’s so hard to tell. The racetrack is so slick on the bottom and with us switching right side tires, I think everybody’s front ends were giving up a little bit. L.W. might have slid up into him a little bit, but L.W. didn’t look like wrecked his race car. He slid up into him in the center of the corner. That’s just racing.”

Seuss, who holds aspirations of being in the championship hunt come season’s end, drove all the way from 12th on the starting grid to challenge for the lead before Lap 100. It made the sting of the lost opportunity hurt worse than any physical pain he may have suffered in the actual crash.

He believes he could have won on Saturday night.

“The car was just that good,” Seuss said. “These guys gave me such a good car that it wasn’t going to matter (where I qualified). These races have kind have turned into between us and (Brunnhoelzl). We’re Ideal Racing teammates, and that’s what it was going to be.

“I don’t know that I was better than him, but I know I had a lot more left in the car to try and beat him.”