'Big one' collects nearly 30

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- “The Big One” at Talladega Superspeedway Saturday afternoon took the form of a spectacular backstretch melee that involved no less than two-thirds of the 43 cars in the NASCAR Busch Series Aaron’s 312.

The accident, on the 15th lap of 117 in the 311.22-mile race, occurred at the head of the field when the pack was still in a tightly bunched two-file array. No less than 29 cars were involved in some fashion.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a salvage yard that looked that bad,” said Alabama short-track ace Mike Harmon, who was the only one of 16 drivers treated and released from the Caraway Infield Care Center to be significantly injured. “It was rough -- a real mess.”

Harmon said he received four stitches to repair a nearly one-inch longitudinal bite to the tip of his tongue.

“I bit my tongue real bad -- that’s the reason why I’m talking like a drunk,” the driver of the No. 44 123CityNet Chevrolet said. “We started 41st but this 123CityNet Chevrolet was coming up to wherever we where when it happened and we were goin’ further. That overrides this disappointment -- we love this track and these Alabama fans and we’ll be back.”

After a 40-minute red flag, only 15 cars were able to take the green, though 21 cars were able to be running at the finish.

Opinions on the cause of the accident were almost as varied as the number of participants. Fifth starter Scott Riggs said he had to check up in his No. 10 Nestle Nesquik Ford to avoid another car and fellow Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Shane Hmiel’s No. 47 Pacconi Classics Pontiac couldn’t avoid hitting Riggs.

“I had a run on Kenny (Wallace) on the outside and I got about two or three feet on him there and he hit my front end and I had to check up and catch it and I did,” Riggs said. “I just got hit from behind. You can’t check up when you run these kind of speeds.”

After his No. 48 Stacker 2 Pontiac’s radiator was punctured, ultimately overheating his car’s engine and costing him a top-five finish, Wallace said to review the film to determine fault though he did say the right rear corner of his car was unmarked.

“You know, the only thing I can say about that wreck is I think everybody needs to watch a tape and tell me what happened,” Wallace said. “’Cause I was running up the track to get in line and I don’t know. . . How the hell can I see what happened when I’m in front of it?”

“I think what happened is I was running him (Riggs) up and I think he started rolling out of the gas to let me in and they run into him. Obviously it was nothing intentional.”

“Me and the 10 were racing pretty good and the 48 moved up on him about two times,” Hmiel said. “The 10 lost his nose (aero pushed) and we had to check up and everybody run into the back of us. Everybody probably thinks it’s my fault, but it’s not. We were just racing hard, it’s only 15 laps into the race and it really stinks.”

“That’s the worst of it right there -- that’s terrible,” Joe Nemechek said. “The only thing I saw was the 10 was sideways and the 48 was right there, too. The 10 got sideways and shot up and hit the back of the 2 and the front of me at the same time and we were just along for the ride.”

Rookie Johnny Sauter, who won his first Bud Pole Thursday in the No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet, took a wild ride down the backstretch, flipping several times. He said he had no idea his trip to the Talladega Short Track dirt track across the street from the Superspeedway the night before for a Pennzoil World of Outlaws show would be a preview of his race.

“Yeah, (it was) pretty cool,” he said of the crash. “I ain’t never been on my lid before so that was pretty much a new experience for me, but while we were flipping I was just curled up in a fetal position, waiting for it to stop and praying it would land on its lid, and it did.”

“I didn’t see anything, to be honest with you,” Mike McLaughlin said after driving his patched up No. 18 MBNA Chevrolet to the finish. “There was a lot of smoke, I drove through the smoke for a long ways and finally it (track) was blocked.”

Credit: Dave Rodman/TSI

When the smoke cleared, the accident caused a frightening flashback to a huge accident in the 2001 Daytona 500 in which Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart, in the No. 20 car landed on the hood of Bobby Labonte’s No. 18 MBNA Pontiac while sailing down the backstretch.

Saturday, McLaughlin’s car came to rest on Gibbs Racing teammate Coy Gibbs’ No. 20 ConAgra Pontiac.

“I got hit a bunch of times but nothing too severe,” McLaughlin said. “I was pretty fortunate, and it sounds like everybody was fortunate.”

“I have been through a lot of wrecks,” veteran Tim Fedewa said after finishing his first Busch race of the season in third in the No. 07 Biagi Brothers Pontiac, “but that was the biggest amount of carnage I have ever seen. (It was) unbelievable.”

Wallace, Todd Bodine and Jeff Purvis continued at the initial restart after making repeated pit stops.

Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, Scott Wimmer, Kerry Earnhardt and Randy LaJoie returned to the race after making repairs, but Wimmer and Hornaday were quickly parked for being unable to maintain the minimum speed.

Tim Sauter, Jay Sauter, Hmiel, Shane Hall, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Lyndon Amick, Kerry Earnhardt, Ashton Lewis Jr., Tony Raines and Riggs also made laps to improve their positions.