Suspended crew chief apologizes for fighting

Benched for a week by NASCAR for the fight between the Germain Racing crew and the Red Horse Racing team, crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. said that his team will not appeal the penalty and he will take responsibility for his actions.

The crew chief for Todd Bodine apologized once again Wednesday for the fight, which occurred after the Craftsman Truck Series race won by Ron Hornaday on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“The biggest thing I want to get across is to apologize to NASCAR and their officials, Ron Hornaday, [crew chief] Rick Ren, KHI, our sponsors, … [and] to all the fans, especially the families that have to try to explain to their children like I had to do on Sunday that it’s not OK to fight, it’s not OK to let your tempers flare and get into those kind of confrontations," Hillman Jr. said in a phone interview.

“Sometimes you get passionate about what you do and sometimes you do things out of passion and you have to serve the penalties and consequences."

Hillman Jr, his brother Mark (a crew member for Bodine) and Red Horse Racing crew member William Divel were suspended for one week. The fight erupted after Red Horse Racing driver David Starr had contact with Germain’s Bodine and David Reutimann in the final 13 laps of the race.

Hillman Jr. went to Starr’s car after it was stopped following the race on pit road and pulled down Starr’s window net. Starr got out of his car and began swinging, saying later he was spat on and cursed at by Germain Racing crew members.

Reports indicated that Hillman Jr. had pulled Starr out of the truck although video of the incident was inconclusive.

"The details of it, it happened so fast it's hard to even remember what really happened," Hillman Jr. said. Scenedaily.com