The "Big One" involved 20 cars, including nine of the top 15 in the Busch Series points standings. Credit: AP
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
April 5, 2003
6:35 PM EST (2335 GMT)
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- A cut tire triggered an accident involving 20 cars Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The accident started on lap nine in Turn 4 of the 2.66-mile speedway when Johnny Sauter's No. 21 Chevrolet spun due to a cut left rear tire.
 | AARON'S 312 | | | | | |
|
|
Directly behind Sauter in the bottom lane, Brian Vickers hit Lyndon Amick from behind. Before the smoke cleared, at least 17 other cars were involved to some degree, including Busch Series point leader Todd Bodine and defending race winner Jason Keller.
Six drivers were treated and released from the track's infield medical center. Randy MacDonald was awake and alert after the accident, but was transported to Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, where he was treated and released by early evening.
 | Video: Aaron's 312 | | | | | | | | |
|
|
Bodine made several pit stops trying to repair his No. 92 Chevrolet, which finally had an electrical failure. He eventually finished 27th and unofficially maintained his lead in the standings, by 39 points over Jamie McMurray.
Saturday's misfortune marked the second restrictor-plate race in row in which Keller got caught up in trouble.
"It's a real bad points day, but we'll just do what we can do," said Keller, who finished one position and five laps behind Bodine. "It was a case of being in the wrong lane at the wrong time. I committed myself to the outside lane and they all came to the top of the racetrack."
Keller, who expected to be a championship contender, came into the event second in the points, 104 behind Bodine. He ended up fifth in the standings, but only dropped an additional three points on the chart.
Sauter came into the weekend 11th in the standings, but finished 26th after the melee. He remained 11th.
"I don't know what we have to do -- we've had two bad weeks in a row," Sauter said. "I just was going down the back straightaway and going into Turns 3 and 4 and I started feeling a vibration.
"Next thing I know I'm sideways and everybody's running into me. All I know is that when a tire goes down here it goes down in a hurry."
| |
 |
| Bobby Hamilton No. 25 Ford was mangled for the second consecutive weekend. |
"It looked like the 21 cut a tire down -- there was a bunch of rubber coming off it," Randy LaJoie said. "He got sideways and once you see that, it's on, man. You hang onto the steering wheel and say a prayer."
Bobby Hamilton Jr. was involved in a major accident for the second week in a row.
"I saw rubber fly everywhere and then, all of a sudden I saw everything that went down come up, and it took all of us out," Hamilton said. "It's just the same deal. There's no throttle response here -- it's wide open the whole time and I got caught up in somebody else's mess."
|
