Wrecks during LVMS test leaves teams scrambling

LAS VEGAS -- For the second consecutive year, Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway turned into a crash-fest, as eight different cars were terminally wrecked in two days of testing.

With the final two days of Preseason Thunder on tap Thursday and Friday at California Speedway, it created a logistical two-step for some teams -- though 78 percent of the 33 teams contacted in an informal poll said they planned to bring the same cars from Vegas to California regardless.

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Red Bull Racing, Penske Racing and Ganassi Racing were three teams that originally planned to bring cars to Vegas to swap them out, sending one new piece on to California with one of the Vegas testers.

Wrecks involving two of those organizations' drivers affected those plans. Roy McCauley, crew chief for Penske Racing's Ryan Newman, said he wouldn't decide until overnight Tuesday whether to swap out one of their No. 12 Dodges. Teammate Pat Tryson said one of driver Kurt Busch' No. 2 Chargers would definitely be changed.

But Richard Childress Racing veteran Jeff Burton still professed a lot of love Tuesday for the new car, even after becoming the sixth driver to crash when his No. 31 Chevrolet hit the wall in Turn 3.

"I've been real happy, and this [accident] doesn't discourage that," Burton said. "What happened here was somehow or other in our control and it's not a fault of the [new car]. I've been real happy with the test so far, really been happy with the way our car's driven so I'm real encouraged that this is going to work well."

The reason for Burton's optimism was that, unlike Regan Smith, Sam Hornish Jr., Dario Franchitti, David Ragan and Mark Martin; Burton appeared to be the victim of a mechanical failure less than an hour into Tuesday morning's practice.

"Something happened with the right front suspension -- we don't know what, because everything's tore up," Burton said. "But just before [Turn 3], the right front hit the racetrack real hard [and] then it wouldn't turn; so there was no warning, just something broke -- we had some kind of a failure somewhere."

It was a portent of bad things to come, as later in the day both Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip crashed due to mechanical failures. Fittingly, the test ended 10 minutes early when an oil line came loose on Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, ruining too much of the racing surface to allow it to be cleaned in daylight.

"It was no big deal -- didn't hurt anything," said Steve Letarte, Gordon's crew chief. "Actually, that was our plan, so no one could run any faster [laughing]. It was because of all the [computer telemetry] systems."

It wasn't a joke for Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, whose West Coast test fleet was cut in half after a device mounted on their No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota apparently failed, causing its right front wheel to leave the car, sending it into the wall. (Continued)