Segment-ending wreck cuts down final field

CONCORD, N.C. -- Place 10 relentless competitors in a one-lap to war for a single, crucial position and you've potentially concocted a recipe for disaster.

In a nutshell, that was the scenario during the final lap of the second of three segments in Saturday's The Winston all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Terry Labonte, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Bill Elliott were all eliminated from the 19th annual Winston Cup all-star event.

The melee started when Stewart tapped Labonte in the rear as the freight train of cars steered through Turn 3 on the final lap of the race's second stanza.

Labonte spun through the turn, triggering a multi-car pileup that collected some of the race's most capable machines, namely Stewart, who won the race's first segment.

"We got down into (Turn) 1 and I got a big run and went down to the inside, and if I'd have carried that momentum I would've tried to go on and run three-wide into one and make him lift, but I didn't get that big a run," Stewart said.

	Tony Stewart and Terry Labonte head to the ambulance after the late-race accident.

"So I just sat back and tried to, basically, just get back in line. I talked to Terry. I got back in line and evidently his spotter told him I was still inside so when we went down into corner he checked up, and we checked up. I was right behind him and hit him square in the rear end."

The accident sent Elliott to University Hospital in Charlotte with a left foot injury.

Stewart was frustrated following the wreck and questioned the importance of an all-star event.

"Next year I'm gonna take the weekend off -- somebody else can drive this thing next year for this race," Stewart said. "It's starting to become not worth it. I want to be racing a long time, and I don't want to get wrecked on a non-points race that has turned out to be a hack-fest every year."

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Though frustrated with his misfortune, Earnhardt Jr. did find something to grin about.

"This is the first car we've tore up this year," Earnhardt, Jr. said with a smile. "A lot of my Busch Series buddies and Bobby Labonte have come to me for sheet metal for charities, and I ain't had none to give 'em. Now we got a whole car for 'em to cut up."