Team owner Richard Childress said Saturday his team is working with local authorities to resolve issues stemming from a post-race Friday night altercation that involved Richard Childress Racing team members.
Two RCR crewmen were arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault following Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
There was an altercation in the driver-owner motorcoach lot after the race, and that incident apparently was an extension of a pit-road encounter that involved RCR driver Brian Scott, driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and several crewmen. Piquet and Scott collided while racing for position on the last lap of Friday’s race, and their cars hit again on the cool-down lap.
Scott approached Piquet on pit road after the race, and Piquet kicked him as they and team members scuffled. That incident ended quickly, but the feud apparently was reignited in the motorcoach lot.
Michael Searce was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault, and Thomas Costello was arrested on one count of misdemeanor assault by Henrico County police. They were released early Saturday morning.
Childress released a statement on the situation at midday Saturday.
“I didn’t witness what took place last night outside of the race track,” Childress said in the statement. “Our team members were walking to their cars, and words were exchanged with members from another team, which led to an altercation. I am still learning all the exact details and, because it did happen outside of the track, local authorities became involved. We are working with them to resolve this matter. We are now concentrating on winning the Sprint Cup race tonight.”
Piquet apparently was involved in the motorcoach lot incident after the race.
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Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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