Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Forest City, NC(April 13, 2011) — As the checkered flag waved over Saturday nights UARA-STARS Series race at Kingsport Speedway, there was one driver spinning, one driver penalized and another accepting an unexpected victory.

Of course there was more than three cars in the race, so there were other storylines as well and one of them was a driver and team who simply didn’t have the run they expected and their season wasn’t off to the start that had wished for. That driver was Ronnie Bassett, Jr., who despite qualifying strong with a third place effort, faded almost from the drop of the green flag even getting lapped, all the while his teammate led laps and was in contention for the win.

It was a performance that no one involved was happy with starting with Bassett and his family, but ending with his crew chief, Nick Hutchins and team owner, Jamie Yelton. Bassett moved to Yelton’s Fat Head Racing over the winter after competing his rookie season in his own family owned team. The move was expected to yield better results for the sophomore driver and to put him in a position to win the championship in the UARA-STARS Series, one of the most competitive series in the country.

On the surface it seemed as if Bassett and his team had got off to a great start at Hickory Motor Speedway in the season opening event for the UARA-STARS Series and they had just hit a speed bump at Kingsport Speedway. However, talking to the team, things might not have been as good as they may have seemed and things were coming apart at the seams.

Bassett’s poor performance wasn’t the tip of the iceberg, but rather the icing on the cake that made everything fall apart.

“It was easy to see that it wouldn’t last long,” said Nick Hutchins in a phone interview late Tuesday evening.

On Monday evening, Yelton had made the decision to go in another direction and put someone else atop the pit box for Bassett in this weekends UARA-STARS Series race at Newport Speedway. Yelton said that he had to do something and it was the easiest move to make.

“No one could see all the things going on away from the track, behind the scenes,” said Yelton. “We were struggling at tests, trying setups and things that just weren’t working with our program. I knew that in order to keep Bassett happy that I was going to have to make a move and make a change.”

That change, puts Hutchins out as Bassett’s crew chief, a move that Yelton felt had to be made to ensure that Bassett’s performance is up to par with his other car.

“I know that Nick(Hutchins) is plenty capable of getting the job done as a crew chief,” continued Yelton. “His track record speaks for itself and I really thought that we would work well together. For whatever reason, the things that he tried with our stuff didn’t work like he thought they should and I just couldn’t get him to do things similar to the way we do things.”

Hutchins offered a much different perspective on how things went down with his time at Fat Head Racing and wasn’t bashful to speak his mind.

“I tried to do little Ronnie(Bassett, Jr.) a good job, but I was told how to set the car up and wasn’t given the chance to try all of the things that I know works,” explained Hutchins. “I was doubted from the time I got there and I was talked down on my salary so far that I only worked two days and couldn’t give the car the attention it needed.”

“I’ve learned it’s better to work peacefully with people who trust you and don’t second guess your decisions all the time. You can’t do this deal and not be trusted and I didn’t stick to my guns. I listened to too many people and didn’t do what I knew worked and used a setup at Kingsport that I was told to run.”

For Bassett it’s a tough situation, but one that he hopes will help he and his team to get better and run like he knows they’re capable of.

“It was a tough weekend at Kingsport for sure,” said Bassett. We had an oil leak, carburetor problems and other stuff hurting us when we unloaded. We may have had a good qualifying run, but we didn’t have the kind of weekend we were all expecting.”

“Nick(Hutchins) was giving it all he had and it wasn’t working with Jamie(Yelton) and his guys,” continued Bassett. “At the end of the day, it’s about results and we didn’t get the results we were expecting. Nick did everything he said and it was just a team problem.”

The change couldn’t come at a worse time for the Fat Head Racing team as the UARA is racing on back to back weekends where as most of their schedule is every other week. Yelton said that while he was reluctant to make the change on this short week, he thought that if he didn’t he could lose Bassett.

“I didn’t really want to make this change this week,” explained Yelton. “I hired Nick(Hutchins) because I felt like he was the best guy out there and I wanted to make it work, but I had to make this change this week to make sure that Ronnie, Sr.(Bassett) and Jr. were happy with our program. I expect them to run up front like we have with this program since we started and at the end of the day the burden for that falls on me.”

Bassett said he isn’t excited about making the change on this short week, but knew something needed to happen after the race at Kingsport.

“The change on this short week, where we got to go right back to the track on Friday is tough,” explained Bassett. “Nick was just a two-day man and he did what he could do. We can’t do anything, but improve from how we performed last weekend, so I don’t guess the short week matters.”

Hutchins offered another opinion on the change.

“There’s more going on there with this deal,” explained Hutchins. “Speed wasn’t a problem at Hickory and it wasn’t a problem at Concord during testing(the race was rained out), but we just had no speed at Kingsport at all. It was obvious we were in trouble, Ronnie(Bassett, Jr.) said the car was getting into the car, turning and getting off the corner really good, but it just had no power.”

“I wasn’t a fan of the deal at all,” continued Hutchins. “Being there only two days a week just wasn’t working and we had a lot of issues with the car when it got to the racetrack like this past weekend at Kingsport. They’ve got more problems than me.”

Yelton and his Fat Head Racing team already have a replacement for Hutchins with part-time Nationwide Series driver and Fabricator, Chris Lawson calling the shots effective this week for Bassett. Lawson, who has made several start and parks for some NASCAR Nationwide Series teams, has been a full-time fabricator on NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide cars and Camping World Trucks. Lawson has also raced on occasion in his Late Model Stock Car making several successful starts in the UARA-STARS Series.

Lawson hopes to help the team get things going in the right direction, but admits that it’s a lot of pressure to do it with just a couple of days before they go racing again.

“I was looking for something else to do,” said Lawson. “I had got burnt out on working on the Cup and Nationwide cars and I love Late Models, so this deal is perfect. Jamie(Yelton) called me and asked if I would be interested in doing this deal and explained the whole situation to me and hopefully I can help. I know things just weren’t being done like Jamie had expected them to be done and I think he and I are thinking alike already and can make the most of this situation.”

While Bassett and his new crew chief have never met, Yelton is confident that this will be the move that they need to make to get this program back on the right track.

“I think these two guys will get along really good,” concluded Yelton. “Chris(Lawson) is a racer, he’s not far removed from being in the drivers seat of one of these cars and when he raced he was always up front and he was his own crew chief. Already with him only having been here today(Tuesday), I know that he is capable and I can feel the chemistry is there.”

Lawson only has a few days to help turn around the 04 team for Fat Head Racing, but Yelton and his gang are working hard and giving Lawson all the tools needed to get the ship righted.

For Hutchins part he’s already working on some deals and trying to make some moves to better his career and though theres this slight speed bump, he’s proven that he can get the job done. Hutchins will quickly land on his feet and RACE22.com will bring you the latest on his career as it unfolds.

It’s silly season already in Late Model Stock Car racing, one crew chief out, a new one joins the party and the next question is …. “What’s next?”