Early accidents send eight drivers behind wall

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Eight drivers with a total of six victories at Darlington Raceway lost any chance to win the Mountain Dew Southern 500 Sunday after two accidents in the first 20 laps swept them up.

On the fifth of 367 laps, Christian Fittipaldi said Jason Leffler drove into Fittipaldi's car going into Turn 3, precipitating a six-car melee that also involved three-time Darlington winner Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Michael Waltrip and Tony Raines.

On the restart after that caution, four more drivers were involved in a chain-reaction wreck as the field came up to speed, with two-time Darlington winner Sterling Marlin and former Darlington winner Mark Martin's cars the most seriously damaged.

"The car was very, very tight to start with," Fittipaldi said. "I don't know what happened -- Leffler just nailed me from behind going into 3 and we caused a big wreck.

"I want to believe he had some brake problems."

Raines also was a little confused as to what happened.

"It looked like the 43 was having some serious problems (and) I don't know if Jason got into him and turned him or what," said Raines, who was involved in an early accident at Darlington for the second straight race. "We were all stacked up and everybody was trying to be calm."

The incident was particularly heartbreaking for Wallace and Waltrip.

Waltrip, after going 33 races over two seasons without a DNF, was in the garage early for the second straight week, both times after experiencing accidents with Wallace.

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Wallace, in the midst of a career worst 86-race winless streak, had his third straight DNF, with finishes of 37th, 38th and 43rd at Watkins Glen, Michigan and Bristol preceding Darlington.

"I've never in my career had a year like this," Wallace said. "I went into Turn 3 and all of a sudden the 43 and 0 and the 15 all wrecked right in front of me.

"I was right up against the wall, my normal Darlington line, and there was no place to go."

"I have no idea what happened, I just saw Christian spin out and I don't know if somebody spun him out, or what," Waltrip said. "The track gets real narrow when you get into the turn and I was trying to hit people in front of me and people behind me were trying to hit me."

Leffler was the only driver involved in the first mishap that was able to continue immediately after the restart, seven laps down.

When the race restarted at about lap 17, some confusion on the takeoff caused Martin to ram the back of five-time Southern 500 winner Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet.

	Christian Fittipaldi limps to pit road. Credit: Autostock

Martin initially continued but was forced to go to the garage within a couple laps for repairs.

In the same incident, Marlin's Dodge hit the back of Greg Biffle's Ford. Marlin immediately headed to the garage for repairs.

"You'd think it was a restart on a quarter-mile somewhere," Marlin said. "They took off and somebody jammed the brakes on -- somebody hit me in the back, knocked me into the 16 and busted the radiator.

"I wish they'd learn how to restart (because) they just jam the brakes on and tear somebody's stuff up."

Raines, despite his rookie status, summed up everyone's mood.

"It's kind of unfortunate -- kind of aggravating, to be honest," Raines said. "I don't think it was intentional. Maybe somebody was just trying too hard -- I don't know."