'Big One' collects 18 cars late in the 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Talk of the Big One happening at a superspeedway was pretty quiet during Speedweeks. Not any more.

Eighteen cars were involved in a wreck on lap 146 of the Daytona 500 when Kevin Harvick, who was running second, and Jeff Gordon, running third, made contact while entering Turns 3 and 4.

Thankfully, no driver was injured in the smoky crash.

Harvick appeared to get loose when Gordon was chasing him for position. The No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet bobbled a bit after the air was taken off the the spoiler. Just when it seemed he gathered it back together, contact occurred between Harvick’s rear bumper and Gordon’s front.

Harvick spun to the left at first, then shot up the banking into traffic.

“Gordon wanted in to the same spot I did,” Harvick said after leaving the infield care center. “I tried to block, he came up and all hell broke loose. I came down, we got together and I wrecked.

“The car was awesome and these guys put together a heck of a race car and we had a chance to win the Daytona 500. The one downfall of this restrictor plate package is that you have to block. If you get hung out, you have to go back and start over again.”

John Andretti in the No. 43 Dodge first tagged Harvick, and cars started to spin everywhere and every which way.

“I guess the No. 29 got spun in front of us,” Andretti said. “He came up toward the wall and we just drove into him. From there, we all just piled into each other.”

Collected in the spin were several other cars running in the top-10 as the race laps began to tick down. Involved were Ken Schrader, Todd Bodine, pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson, Kenny Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Dave Blaney, Johnny Benson, Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Hamilton, Jerry Nadeau, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Atwood, Mike Wallace and Joe Nemechek.

Hamilton’s No. 55 Schneider Electric Chevrolet burst into flames as he came off the banking and rolled to a stop on the apron. He quickly exited the car and wasn’t without an opinion afterwards.

“With this new aero package guys can’t let off the gas,” a frustrated Hamilton said. “Last year we could all let off the gas if we wanted and catch back up.

“Now, it’s just a bunch of ill driving race cars out there with a bunch of guys afraid to let off because they might lose the draft.”