The No. 49 Chevrolet of Ashton Lewis was one of 15 cars involved in a crash on lap 190. Credit: Autostock
By Ryan Smithson, Turner Sports Interactive
March 29, 2003
7:49 PM EST (0049 GMT)
FORT WORTH, Texas - A 15-car accident with 10 laps to go marred the finish of the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The incident started entering Turn 1. Mike Bliss went high to avoid the inside car of Chad Blount and made inadvertent contact with Shane Hmiel.
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Hmiel and Bliss touched, and Bliss' Chevrolet shot down into the middle of the track, where he was hit squarely in the driver's side door by Ashton Lewis.
The accident caused the race to be red-flagged for 23 minutes.
"No time to react," said Lewis, who ended up 27th. "Mike was lined up on the outside. He said the 48 got in the back of him and turned him.
"The 19 (Chad Blount) got down into the grass, and my first instinct is, 'This is not going to be good.'"
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"We got running there, 10 to go, and I got hit in the right rear," said Bliss, who finished 22nd. "I didn't even know anybody was there.
"I was just going down into the corner, two wide, and I guess it was going to be three-wide. Three-wide does not work here, but some guys were doing it."
Hmiel said Bliss moved up the track.
"I don't know what anyone else saw, but it to me, it looked like he came up on me," Hmiel said.
It's been a tough month for Lewis. His engine expired at Darlington two weeks ago and entered Texas a disappointing 22nd in the standings.
"It's just unfortunate for this team," Lewis said. "We keep running well in the race, but we'll keep digging."
The incident also ruined the day of David Reutimann, who led 22 laps in his first Busch start of the year. Instead of a sure top-10 finish, he had to settle for 24th.
"All I saw was smoke," Reutimann said. "My spotter said go to low, I tried, but I hit them."
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