NASCAR driver Shane Hmiel, who runs all three of NASCAR’s top series, will appeal the $10,000 fine and the 25 points the sanctioning body took away for his nationally televised one-finger salute of Dale Jarrett during Monday’s Busch Series race at Bristol. Now that the situation has had time to cool off Hmiel explains “I don’t race to make friends but I don’t race to make enemies either. I really hate that it happened and I hate Dale Jarrett’s car got torn up and I hate that we got fined 25 points and stuff like that so we’re going to appeal it and see what happens and it’s already over with…I’m ready to go to Martinsville and run the truck. I respect Dale Jarrett for all he’s done as a racer. I’m sorry that the fans had to see that on television and their kids and everybody who enjoys NASCAR as much as I do but there’s two sides to every story and I’m not gonna be threatened by anybody or back down from anybody. I’ve got a great sponsor and a great owner that’s been behind me and Dale Jarrett knows that wasn’t anything personal…it’s five laps to go and it ended up being a wreck and it tore his car up and I’m sorry for that…it’s nothing I did on purpose. We’re just gonna go to Martinsville and let this pass and I’m sure they’ll be somebody’s as big a jerk as I am this week next week.”(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio show)(4-7-2005)
STATEMENT: FROM SHANE HMIEL REGARDING BRISTOL NASCAR BUSCH RACE
QUESTION: UPON REFLECTION, IF YOU HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN, WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT AFTER MONDAY’S BUSCH RACE IN BRISTOL? HMIEL ANSWER: Of course I would. I want to apologize to the fans watching on television, especially the children, that they witnessed the post race on live TV. Every driver builds so much adrenaline at Bristol that it isn’t easy to shut it down immediately when your car rolls to a stop but it doesn’t make up for the fact that everyone watching live TV witnessed the incident.
QUESTION: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DALE JARRETT? HMIEL ANSWER: I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dale. He has proved he is a great race driver. He has won a championship, three Daytona 500s and numerous other races. There is no way I meant to hit him; it was simply five laps to go at Bristol. Things happen so fast and with everyone wrecking in front of us, it played out that Dale ended up with a torn up race car. I hate that happened. I am very passionate about my racing and I am a hard racer. I love racing and there is nothing more I want to do. But part of what makes our sport is as strong as it is are drivers like Dale who have built the fan base and earned the respect on and off the track of their fellow drivers.
QUESTION: WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? HMIEL ANSWER: First, I would like to personally assure the fans that I have the utmost respect for all of the drivers who have built this sport to the level it is today, especially Dale Jarrett. I intend to speak with Dale and apologize to him for the comment I made after the race in the heat of the moment. I am sure Dale and I are going to race against one another several times this season and I want us to both be confident that this was an isolated incident and we are starting with a clean slate. I would like to put this all behind us so we can all go forward in a positive manner. We have filed an appeal with NASCAR regarding the penalties that were assessed and will make the best presentation we can. Whatever the decision is, we will respect and move on to the next race.(GM PR)(4-9-2005)
