Live from Lowe's: The Humpy Plot Thickens

Geoffrey Miller is in Concord, N.C. for Sunday's Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He'll aim to eat as many elephant ears as possible while blogging away "Live from Lowe's" throughout Memorial Day weekend.

As I left Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon, I read that NASCAR's penultimate promoter, H.A. Humpy Wheeler of Lowe's Motor Speedway, was retiring effective after Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

Humpy has long been the most recognizable track president on the Sprint Cup tour, and with that, he has been a fan favorite. His retirement, to say the least, was a shock.

Thursday the Charlotte Observer offered a little bit more into why Wheeler is exiting his role and it definitely helps affirm how big of a surprise his move is.

It turns out that Humpy is retiring, but not completely on his own terms.

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said Wednesday his retirement as president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway and as president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports Inc. did not come entirely on his own terms.

"Some of it is," Wheeler said in officially announcing his decision. "I won't say it all is. We'll just leave it at that."

The "that" Wheeler is referring to is a rift between himself and the owner of SMI, Bruton Smith.

In the article, it cites Smith as saying a few instances in which Humpy didn't agree with decisions made by SMI involving LMS -- including building condos in Turn 1 and the new drag strip going up across Highway 29 on the property.

Additionally, the article also hints at Smith's son taking over the reigns of LMS, though that isn't official by any means yet.

To me, it seems pretty disappointing to know that Wheeler was ultimately forced into his retirement. There's so many things he's done for both the speedway and for NASCAR in general that its definitely sad to see him walk away from an influential spot in the sport under these terms.

I think LMS and NASCAR as a whole will miss a character like Humpy, even if Bruton & SMI never do.