Texas twisters trip up several contenders

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The NASCAR Busch Series wreckfest on Saturday was just an appetizer.

The Winston Cup showmen delivered the main course.

For the second straight day, 10 cautions slowed down the action at Texas, eliminating seven drivers, most notably the front-running cars of Elliott Sadler and Bobby Labonte.

The eight drivers who were eliminated by accidents was the largest number since the inaugural event in 1997.

Sadler dominated early going

	Elliott Sadler led the most laps before a hard hit knocked him out. Credit: Autostock

Sadler led 91 laps -- more than anyone else -- and was so strong that he had lapped nearly half the field before he crashed on lap 169.

Sadler's No. 38 M&Ms Ford got loose coming out of Turn 2, sending him hard into the inside wall.

The crash came shortly after a round of pit stops, and Sadler blamed a right-rear tire for the cause.

"I swear a right rear was going flat," Sadler said. "Something happened on that restart. I don't know if it was a real bad set of tires or actually if I had a right rear going down."

Sadler's first career top-10 finish came at this track in 2000, but his finishes since then have been less than stellar: 39th, 16th, 17th and 41st.

"Things do happen to us here -- don't have much luck -- but I do love this racetrack," Sadler said. "One day we'll get our break down here."

Skinner takes hardest hit

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On lap 235, Steve Park spun on the backstretch, collecting Mike Skinner, who shot across the track and slammed the inside retaining wall.

Skinner's car hit so hard that the rear wheels of his Pontiac lifted off the ground before coming to a stop.

Skinner was not injured.

"There wasn't any place to go," Skinner said. "Steve (Park) got loose."

Then again, so did Nemechek

Joe Nemechek went from feast to famine.

Nemechek, winner of the Busch event on Saturday, struggled with the handling of his Chevrolet all day. After starting ninth, he quickly fell back into the rear of the field.

His problems didn't end there.

His day didn't improve when Ward Burton ran into him on pit road, and it finally ended when he brushed the wall in Turn 4.

After bouncing off the wall, Nemechek darted left into the wall fronting pit road.

VIDEO CLIPS Park, Spencer, and Elliott have trouble early at Texas Play video Elliott Sadler spins and makes hard contact with the wall Play video Cautions breed cautions after halfway at Texas Play video

"That was one of the hardest hits I took," Nemechek said. "All my guys put a lot of effort into the safety of these cars. It goes to show right now. I am still here."

Fittipaldi crashes in relief of Petty

Christian Fittipaldi was just trying to finish, but his brakes wouldn't let him.

On lap 242, Fittipaldi lost control of his No. 45 Georgia Pacific Dodge in Turn 3, hitting the outside wall hard. As he spun, Fittipaldi made contact with Dale Jarrett, but Jarrett was able to continue without incident.

Fittipaldi, who has been subbing for the injured Kyle Petty since Saturday, was making just his third career start.

"I was just running out of brakes," Fittipaldi said. "Considering I hopped in at the last minute, I was having a good time out there."

Incident-filled day for Jarrett

Somehow, Dale Jarrett finished 13th -- the last car on the lead lap.

He got hit on pit road on lap 169, but Jarrett was shoved into another car in the pits, damaging his nose. On lap 242, he was hit by the spinning car of Fittipaldi.

"He kept running me up the track every lap and then we went into three and he ran into the side of me," Jarrett said. "We were fortunate we didn't tear the car up there, so with everything that happened, we'll take 13th and get out of here."

A bitter finish for Labonte

After winning at Atlanta, Bobby Labonte was the heavy favorite to win at Texas.

He didn't disappoint on Friday -- he won the Bud Pole -- but his day turned sour on lap 252, when he spun and damaged the front end of his Chevrolet.

"It was a tough day," Labonte said. "It started good, but we scraped the wall."

Labonte's crew chopped off much of the front end, but Labonte was unable to keep pace and was black-flagged 30 laps from the end.

Labonte, who had spent more than half the race in the top 10, finished 37th.