TYPICAL TALLADEGA
Late-Race Accident Delivers First DNF in 55 Races for Stewart
Crapshoot. Wild card. Those are the words most often used to describe
racing at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, and Sunday's AMP Energy
500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the vast, 2.66-mile oval proved
those descriptions correct.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet
Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was one of the many drivers
whose shot at a good finish went up in a cloud of smoke when he was
caught up in the first of two multi-car accidents.
The Big One was triggered on lap 184 when the freight train of cars
running the outside line, parallel to a line of cars running along the
track's bottom, hiccupped as it raced down Talladega's
backstretch. Ryan Newman, Stewart's SHR teammate and race-long
drafting partner, ran into the back of Stewart as Marcos Ambrose barreled
into the back of Newman. The chain reaction crash sent Stewart's
right-front into the wall, while Newman was sent on a much more harrowing
plight.
Newman's No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevy shot left and into
the path of Ambrose. That contact turned Newman backward, whereupon his
car's aerodynamics became reversed. It lifted off the ground and
somersaulted onto its roof -- first landing on the nose of Kevin
Harvick's Chevrolet before hitting the pavement and skidding across
the track and into the SAFER Barrier lining the outside retaining wall in
turn three. It finally came to rest in the soggy infield grass a few
yards off the track's apron after rolling once more.
Safety crews quickly arrived and worked to extricate Newman from the
car. The process was tedious, but Newman was able to give updates to his
crew via the team radio that he was okay. With his car finally righted
and the roof cut off, Newman climbed from his battered machine and walked
on his own to a waiting ambulance. Following a thorough evaluation in
the infield care center, Newman was released.
"Just a byproduct of Talladega racing, unfortunately," said
Newman, who endured a spectacular crash in his last visit to Talladega in
April. "We got hit from behind and that turned me sideways. Then
I got up in the air and just kept flipping and flopping. Unfortunately,
the cage came down on top of my head and I couldn't get out. It
was a boring race and it was a ridiculous race. I just got to thank
ButlerBuilt (seats), Simpson Race Products and all the guys at the shop
and Hendrick Chassis with what they do to make the cars safer."
"I'm just glad he's alright," Stewart said.
"He'll be sore, for sure, but he's ok."
Both Stewart and Newman suffered DNFs (Did Not Finish). Their 35th- and
36th-place finishes, respectively, were their worst of the season. For
Stewart, the result snapped a remarkable streak of 55 races without a
DNF, which entering Talladega, was the series' longest. (David
Reutimann, who has now gone 38 straight races without a DNF, is the new
leader in this category.)
And with Newman and Stewart unable to complete the final eight laps of
the 191-lap race, which was extended three laps beyond its originally
scheduled distance due to a green-white-checkered finish, they also lost
their standing as having completed the most laps of any other drivers
this season, for coming into Talladega, both had completed all but 14 of
the 9,388 laps available. (Currently, Juan Pablo Montoya has completed
the most laps: 9,558 -- one lap more that Stewart and Newman, who
are tied with each having completed 9,557 laps of the 9,579 laps
available.)
In a case of the rich getting richer, championship point leader Jimmie
Johnson finished the race in sixth while the majority of his championship
pursuers crashed out. Johnson widened his lead to a seemingly
insurmountable 184 points over second-place Mark Martin with only three
races remaining. Each driver second through seventh in the point
standings -- which included Stewart and Newman -- was caught up
in one of the two big accidents and finished 19th or worse.
In other news, Jamie McMurray beat Kasey Kahne to win the AMP Energy
500. It was the third victory of his Sprint Cup career, but his first
since winning at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July 2007, a
span of 86 races.
Finishing third was rookie Joey Logano, while Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton
rounded out the top-five. Michael Waltrip finished seventh behind
Johnson with Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Bobby Labonte comprising
the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 23 laps, with 13 drivers failing to
finish the race.
Both SHR drivers are represented in this year's Chase for the
Championship. Stewart dropped one spot to fifth in the standings and is
now 279 points behind Chase leader Johnson. Newman fell one spot to
eighth where he is 402 markers out of first.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Nov. 8 Dickies 500 at
Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3:15 p.m. EST
with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at
2:30 p.m.
-credit: shr
