Nascar

Junior Triggers 9-Car Daytona Crash
Posted Feb 15, 2009 6:02 PM
 By JENNA FRYER
(AP)
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DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (Feb. 15) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. climbed out of his race car, started walking toward his pit and was accosted by Jeff Burton.
More Coverage: Daytona 500 Results | Kenseth Wins | Junior Triggers Crash



Earnhardt was lucky a few more drivers weren't waiting for him.
NASCAR's most famous driver wrecked a good chunk of the field on a restart late in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, the low point in a race filled with mistakes by the Hendrick Motorsports star. Believe it or not, Earnhardt looked more like a rookie than one of the sport's best restrictor-plate racers.
He finished 27th in the rain-shortened season-opener, struggling in the pits, taking out several contenders and leaving some so fuming mad that he might have needed his firesuit just to get through the garage.
Burton was the first to grab his ear, but Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers were way more vocal.
Earnhardt brushed the complaints aside, saying he was merely doing what he needed to do to get back on the lead lap and back in contention.
"We were good. I just had some bad luck," Earnhardt said. "Every time I would get to the front, there was something that took me to the back, whether it was something I would do or something else. But I had a great car. I could run up in the top five all night."
Maybe so, but problems overshadowed prowess.
His issues started early, when Earnhardt missed his pit stall during a caution nearly 60 laps in. He had to drive the entire length of pit road, then circle the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval before getting the car back to his crew.

He said the problem was that his pit sign was pink, a color that was supposed to stand out. Instead, several other teams used a similar color, making it difficult to find his spot.
It got worse.
On a later pit, Earnhardt stopped with his right front tire barely touching the outside line of his stall and incurred a one-lap penalty.
"A lap for that is ridiculous," he said. "If somebody's pitting outside the box, what's the big gain that they need a lap taken from them?"
The penalty forced him to line up inside the leaders on the restart, where Earnhardt triggered a nine-car accident that knocked Busch and several others out of the race.
Earnhardt was trying to pass Vickers, also a lap down. Vickers blocked the move by pushing Earnhardt down below the yellow out-of-bounds line. He hit Earnhardt in the process, and when Earnhardt re-entered the racing surface, he clipped the left-rear corner of Vickers' car. That sent Vickers shooting across the track and crashing into others.
"He ain't too happy about it, but what the hell, man?" Earnhardt said. "He was driving like a damn idiot. That's not clever, smart driving. That's ridiculous. It don't look clean to me. I hate I wrecked him and everyone else that got in that wreck, but Brian ain't no saint in the matter."
Vickers wasn't about to take responsibility for the incident.
Vickers even questioned why NASCAR didn't penalize Earnhardt for aggressive driving, particularly since it issued a five-lap penalty to Jason Leffler in Saturday's Nationwide Series race for a similar move.

"I beat him to the yellow line and then he just turned us," Vickers said. "Typically, NASCAR penalizes (for that). I guess they're not going to penalize (Earnhardt) for it. It's kind of sad. To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That's my problem with it. Apparently, he wanted a caution pretty bad."
NASCAR said the two situations were treated differently because Earnhardt never intentionally wrecked Vickers.
Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Scott Speed and Carl Edwards also were caught up in the accident.
Kyle Busch, though, might have had the most to lose. Busch led a race-high 88 laps before the melee.
"One guy that had problems all day long on pit road and made his problems our problems and our problems a big problem," Busch said. "It's just unfortunate with that, and it was really uncalled for two lapped cars to be racing each other and bumping each other like that."
Earnhardt staunchly defended himself. He even got on the radio and said, "Tell Vickers if he wants to meet me in the garage and get his (butt) beat, I'd be willing."
"Message delivered," crew chief Tony Eury Jr. responded.
By the time the race ended because of the rain, Earnhardt had calmed down considerably. He climbed out of his No. 88 Chevrolet and had Burton waiting nearby.
"He was upset with me for making it three-wide and I should have worked with him and all that," Earnhardt said. "But rain's coming. Time to try to win the race, you know what I mean?"
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-02-15 18:28:24

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COMMENTS ( 486 )
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GoSmoltz29
11:43AM Feb 19 2009 
Junior didn't cause the wreck , vickers did. Vicker must have short term memory , a couple years ago he wrecked Junior ,who was winnning, on purpose so Jimmy Johnson would win . And anyone who watched nationwide race could clearly see Kyle was trying to wreck Tony Stewart so he wouldn't win the race ,but Tony is such a much better and smarter driver than kyle. there are three dirty drivers and they are Kyle, Vickers and Hamlin , so it makes our day to see them in the wall or in the grass. You go Junior , you are the best on and off the track.
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Tuffsob1968
10:24AM Feb 19 2009 
If it bothers the world so much for a Earnheart driver to be in the top five or even part of such a sport,Then maybe they should find themselves another sport to be involved in.
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Tuffsob1968
10:21AM Feb 19 2009 
Get your self a bottle and stop whinning.He's as good as anyone else out there. And can control his emotions,What about the morron he accidentlly bumped?
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Tuffsob1968
10:18AM Feb 19 2009 
Ok.What part of accident do you people not understand.Don't think for one minute that if the table was turned you choice of driver wouldn't do the same given the reversal of situation.He clearly let out of the gas plain as day on replay.Get e pasafier.And stop being such a bunch of cry baby's.He's as good as anyone else out there behind a sterring wheel,And a lot more in control than roudy bush,Or vickers when its time to control emotions.
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Tuffsob1968
10:18AM Feb 19 2009 
Ok.What part of accident do you people not understand.Don't think for one minute that if the table was turned you choice of driver wouldn't do the same given the reversal of situation.He clearly let out of the gas plain as day on replay.Get e pasafier.And stop being such a bunch of cry baby's.He's as good as anyone else out there behind a sterring wheel,And a lot more in control than roudy bush,Or vickers when its time to control emotions.
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beverlyamy1
1:04PM Feb 18 2009 
jr thinks since he is with hendricks now hes as good as gordon and johnson he aint
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Geotoyou
10:35PM Feb 16 2009 
Apparently you were sleeping during that race last year. Jr drove down into Bush and brought it on himself. Jr even admitted that after the race.
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Tothdk
5:57PM Feb 16 2009 
It is very obvious that the rules are different for JR then for all the other drivers. JR is an average driver at best. He really needs to thank the Lord he has the last name he does. Otherwise he would be without a ride.
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ALynnJosh
5:24PM Feb 16 2009 
Jr should have been held 5 laps just like Jason Leffler was Saturday in the Nationwide race, it was aggressive driving and someone could have been hurt seriously. Everyone thinks because his name is Earnhardt he as good as his Dad (not even close). That's some big shoes to fill, and I don't think he ever will. I just hope he don't get someone killed trying to fill those shoes.
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SheliaPrc
5:22PM Feb 16 2009 
i think all you people need to get over it, if i was driving and vickers done that. i would do the same thing.. if earnhardts daddy was alive, everybody would have something to talk about every weekend. what about busch taking jr out last year, did you hear him crying hell know . he held his head up high and kept going, i dont know why people saying he caused the big one. it was going to happen anyway..wether jr did it or not. suck it up you crybabys that is what you call racing where i come from...
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