Skinner points finger at himself for big wreck

LAS VEGAS -- Mike Skinner took the blame for a hard crash that took out several cars in Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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The lapped cars of Skinner and Wallace were racing through turn 1 not long after a restart when Skinner's car kicked loose and bumped into Wallace. Wallace's No. 2 Dodge spun and slammed the wall, and in the smoke from the two spinning cars, Jeff Gordon, Larry Foyt and Kurt Busch sustained damage.

Wallace, who lost two laps when he had to pit under green after his crew was able to get only six gallons of gas in the car, was trying to get back on the lead lap when he moved to the outside of Skinner.

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"I'm passing the 4 car on the outside going into 1, and I don't know if I just didn't give him enough room, or else his front end pushed up or he got loose or whatever, but he got me in the left-rear quarterpanel," Wallace said. "I know he didn't mean it. It was just one of those racing things, and that was it."

Skinner pointed the finger squarely at himself.

"Rusty jumped up on the outside of me," Skinner said. "I felt the back of the car coming around a little bit, and I got a little loose. I got into Rusty and caused the wreck. It was my fault, as far as I know.

"I've been on the receiving end of that deal a bunch of times. I don't like being the guy that gives it. It's just a mistake."

The inside groove through turns 1 and 2 wasn't the place to be, as Steve Park slipped and punted Dale Jarrett in a similar-looking crash. But Skinner said the low groove worked fine, as long as your car handled, and it had nothing to do with the crash.

"Rusty pulled the air of the car a little bit," Skinner said. "It wasn't his fault at all. It just happened. We're both trying to race hard and trying to get our lap back. I didn't even know he was out there. Next thing you know, he's out there. It pulled the back end of the car around a little bit. We had to go up the racetrack, and we hit him."