Nemechek crash damages outside wall

DOVER, Del. -- Joe Nemechek's savage crash early in the MBNA America 400 damaged a portion of the outside wall in Turn 1 at Dover International Speedway.

	Joe Nemechek escapes from his burning car Sunday at Dover.

Nemechek's No. 25 exploded a tire as it sailed into Turn 1, the fastest portion of the track. Nemechek had no control of his car as it slammed the wall, shearing the right-side sheet metal off the car as it slid against the outside wall.

Nemechek crawled out and was OK, but the wall wasn't. The wall is made of boiler-plate steel, and the impact cracked a portion of the steel. After inspecting the damage, workers began welding the crack back together.

Workers had to first heat the steel around the crack, push it back together, and weld it back in place.

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Cars circulated around the track under yellow as crews worked on the outside wall. NASCAR did not display the red flag, and it took 27 laps to fix the damage. Several cars came back down pit road to top off their fuel tanks.

Before Nemechek's battered car came to rest, it briefly caught fire. But Nemechek was fine.

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"I lost the right-front tire going into the corner," Nemechek said. "I don't know if I ran over something. We had been just a little bit tight, and I'd been taking it real easy on that right-front. It just let go going into the corner. It was one of those deals that when it let go, there was nothing you could do."