Burton has great weekend go bad in wreck

Second-place qualifier caught up in accident on restart

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Ward Burton started Sunday's Brickyard 400 on the front row and ended it on the back of a wrecker.

Burton's No. 0 Chevrolet was one of eight cars caught up in a Lap 73 crash when Rusty Wallace and then Scott Riggs were turned around on the narrow straightaway of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a restart.

BRICKYARD 400 Domination Gordon gets his fourth Brickyard 400 win Final Laps Jeff Gordon holds off Dale Jarrett in a two-lap sprint to the checkers Point leader blues Jimmie Johnson's engine expires on Lap 88 Restart wreck Several cars sustain heavy damage in a wreck on Lap 73 Spin cycle Stewart and Johnson spin in traffic but avoid getting hit Early exit Leffler hits the wall in the early laps •   Results •   Standings •   Chase for the Nextel Cup "Bubble" Standings

Apparently attempting to avoid a slower car as the field took the green, Wallace's car was tapped by Jeff Burton. A few cars behind that, Riggs was involved in a chain-reaction crash as cars attempted to check up. When Riggs spun back across the track, both Ward Burton and Terry Labonte had nowhere to go, plowing into the side of the No. 10.

"When the No. 15 car made an evasive move, I thought he was going to pass," Burton said. "The spotter yelled and I saw people check up.

"The No. 10 was right there and I had nowhere to go."

Burton started second but after a side-by-side race with polesitter Casey Mears through the first two turns, slipped back to fourth after one lap. He got back to second on a restart following Jason Leffler's hard hit in the north short chute but was passed by Jeff Gordon on Lap 15.

Burton was still 10th on Lap 40 but mechanical problems caused him to drop back to the point where he was caught up in the Lap 73 wreck.

"We had some alternator problems that got me in the back," Burton said. "It was just a bad day."

Other cars involved in the incident included Ricky Rudd, Scott Wimmer and Kyle Petty. The cars of Burton, Riggs and Labonte were too heavily damaged to continue, with Burton winding up 39th.