NASCAR to Reprimand Biffle's Girlfriend
Thursday, April 13, 2006
CONCORD, N.C. - Greg Biffle's girlfriend faces a reprimand from NASCAR about her pit-road confrontation with Kurt Busch's fiance after the two drivers wrecked at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch hit the back of Biffle's car early in Sunday's race, causing an accident that ended Biffle's day. Biffle, the defending race winner, had led 49 of the first 82 laps before the crash and wound up 42nd.
Moments after the wreck, TV cameras caught girlfriend Nicole Lunders slamming a water bottle on Biffle's pit box. She then marched down pit road and climbed halfway up Busch's box and had a heated exchange with Eva Bryan. The brief confrontation created a buzz in NASCAR, and the sanctioning body wants to cool down the emotions.
"There will be some conversations that will be had with the people that participated, and we'll make sure that this doesn't carry on and into the garage or anywhere else," Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition, said Wednesday. "You've got to remember, most everybody in the garage area is friends, and those two girls in particular have a close relationship. Tempers flare, and we'll look at that and we'll make sure it doesn't carry on any further than that."
Biffle and Busch spent three seasons as Cup teammates at Roush Racing and had a friendly relationship that often put their girlfriends in the same social settings. Both drivers were testing at Richmond International Raceway on Wednesday and not immediately available for comment.
NASCAR does not have a steadfast rule against team members entering other pit boxes, but generally frowns upon it if the reason for approaching the area stems from something that happened in race.
"When altercations and things like that happen, we recommend that you stay in your own area," Pemberton said. "You can go have a conversation, but it can't be heated per se."
Family members are typically given entrance to the track on a "license" that recognizes them as a team member, meaning their actions can be policed by NASCAR and the sanctioning body reserves the right to revoke their pass at any time.
Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler said wives and girlfriends had a stormy history during NASCAR's early days and many have been thrown out of tracks because of their behavior.
"That kind of stuff was common back in the old days, everybody was fighting back then, especially the women," Wheeler said. "But there wasn't the TV coverage we have today, so it wasn't that big of a deal."
