Ricky Rudd (21) slams into the back of Rusty Wallace (2) as cars stack up in Turn 4. Credit: AP

Hamilton Jr. takes blame for huge crash at Bristol

Late crash in Food City 500 damages nearly a third of the field

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- The Food City 500 was red flagged for nearly 14 minutes Sunday after a multi-car pileup between Turns 3 and 4 collected several front-running cars, including Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace.

Food City 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. K. Harvick Chevrolet 2. E. Sadler Ford 3. T. Stewart Chevrolet 4. D. Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 5. D. Jarrett Ford Complete results click here Driver standings, click here Final lapsKevin Harvick takes the checkers at the Food City 500 Top finishersElliott Sadler and Tony Stewart on their day at Bristol Busch, Burton KO'dKurt Busch slams head-on into a spinning Jeff Burton The big oneOn Lap 332, Bristol collects several top drivers in a multi-car wreck More Bristol troubleRicky Rudd and Matt Kenseth get tied up on Lap 323 Tire troublesRusty Wallace has tire troubles that put him two laps down Tough dayBad day for Kyle Busch and Casey Mears Edwards gets caught up in someone else's mess Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

The melee was triggered when Bobby Hamilton Jr. got into Ken Schrader in Turn 3, turning Schrader head-on into the outside retaining wall and stacking up the field behind them.

When the smoke cleared, 14 cars were involved.

"I was right on (Schrader), got a run and was going to try to run to the outside, and the left front fender caught him just enough to turn him," Hamilton said. "I'm trying to race hard, get a lap back, and leave it to me to do something stupid and tear a bunch of cars up.

"Overall, the day was decent. We were trying to get our lap back, and (Schrader) was the one we were trying to get around to get our lucky dog back. And I went and tore a bunch of racecars up.

"So I'm sure I'm a pretty good SOB right now. I hope people know I don't race like that. I just screwed up, so I'll just tuck my tail between my legs and head back to Nashville."

The two biggest losers in the accident were Wallace and Ricky Rudd. Wallace, who led a race-high 157 laps before tire trouble banished him to the back of the pack, finished two laps down in 13th position.

"He had the worst luck of anybody today," Tony Stewart said of Wallace. "He was the class of the field."

But looking ahead, Rudd's misfortune is worse. Next weekend's Advance Auto Parts 500 is the first race of the 2005 season that NASCAR will use the current season's owner points to determine guaranteed starting positions.

After Sunday's wreck, Rudd is 37th in the championship standings, meaning he must qualify on speed at Martinsville Speedway.

"We've had fast cars, even here we were fast," Rudd said. "We had that tire problem that got us down. We got one of them back on the racetrack. We were racing to get that other one back and the (Matt) Kenseth and I got together.

"I'm not sure why he was racing me so hard. We were faster than he was at the time and he was trying to block us. And then with the big wreck, there's not a whole long you can do about that. You're just sort of a victim."

Martin said that double-file restarts at Bristol make such incidents inevitable.

"Because the cars are right in front of you, you can't see through the cars that are directly in front of you," Martin said. "I'm not sure what happened, but Schrader got out of control and it just wadded up everything.

Credit: Autostock

"The cars started stopping and there was no way. I ran into Kurt (Busch) there, and then I got ran over from behind, as well. That's what you get when you have double-file restarts at Bristol."

McMurray, who spent much of his time before the wreck in the top 10, was mired deep in the pack after experiencing tire trouble.

"We just had a tire separate," McMurray said. "Didn't look like it had too much camber. The sidewall just got hot and separated. Fortunately it didn't blow, just went down and I felt it. You just lose so many laps here when you pit under green."

As for the wreck, McMurray said it was akin to that which you'd see on a restrictor plate track.

"I didn't see anything (in the wreck)," McMurray said. "Spotter said 'Check up,' and cars just went everywhere. It reminds me of a speedway wreck. I had a really good car.

"I'm very excited by our performance today. Our short track program is always strong. We had a right front tire go flat and got put in the back. That's when you get involved in things like that."