Drivers forced to back-ups in crash-filled practices (cont'd)

"This one here was all my fault and we tore up a few others," Busch said. "It's just been one of those days. I hate it for the No. 11 [Hamlin], the No. 14 [Stewart], the No. 83 [Sorenson] -- the guys that got caught up in that. I misjudged it and just tried to jump back in line too fast and just hooked the No. 11 just enough, and then these speeds and there's not a whole lot of grip here, whether you're in the corners or on the straightaways.

"I just turned him sideways so I apologize to all of the guys involved. I hate it for them"

“

There’s definitely a lot of guys sliding around and with this new spoiler package the cars drove a bit different than what they have in previous years.

”

-- JOEY LOGANO

Busch and Hamlin, who intermittently have been involved in some disagreements this season, including wrecks, were seen on TV calmly discussing the accident. Hamlin's remarks were measured, as well.

"He was just sorry for misjudging it," Hamlin said of the teammates' conversation. "Pretty fortunate he didn't get damaged or have to go to another backup because we would've been short one car -- he was going to have to use this [No. 11 backup] car if he got damaged so obviously he can't take this one. Luckily we brought just the right amount of cars.

"We were going straight on the straightaway and that's what I didn't understand is, I got turned sideways, but I didn't feel a bump. So, it must've been the slightest of touches [but] it just doesn't take much. The bigger restrictor plate and the spoiler -- it just feels like our cars are constantly on edge -- you can't even really push draft like you used to at superspeedway racing.

"So, I think it's just two cars getting close to each other and that's what happens."

Hamlin, Sorenson, Richardson Jr. and Stewart were all forced into backups, with Stewart pitching-in and working under the hood of his No. 14 Chevrolet. Stewart's backup has twice been rebuilt after accidents, but it was the car he used to win the 2009 Coke Zero 400.

Within the first six minutes of final practice, Dale Earnhardt Jr. flat-sided his No. 88 when he slipped up the race track between Turns 1 and 2. He kept running and eventually logged 20 laps, which left him 29th on the time sheet at 191.849 mph.

About 23 minutes into final practice, the slick track prevented Practice 1 leader Joey Logano from staying on the yellow line as he attempted to get onto pit road, coming off Turn 4, and he was punted into a spin by Carl Edwards.

Edwards said he attempted to hit Logano as squarely in the middle of the back bumper as he could and the effort, while sending Logano into a wild spin to the inside of the Turn 4 skid pad, minimized the damage to the second-year driver's car.

"[Logano] was just slowing down to come into the pits and he came off the line a little bit. I couldn't go to the outside and I couldn't go to the inside, so I just hit him. I'm glad he didn't hit the wall and it didn't tear up our car very much at all, so no harm, no foul."

"Rookie mistake, I guess, you could call it -- I screwed up," Logano said. "I was going to come down pit road that lap and I started slipping up the race track and I started checking up too much and I didn't let Carl know good enough what I was trying to do."

Edwards' No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford suffered minor front end damage while Logano said his crew planned to replace his car's rear bumper. Both drivers were down on the final practice speed charts with Logano 20th (192.328 mph) and Edwards 31st (191.763 mph).

"We're lucky we didn't have more damage than we have, but I was just stupid about it," Logano said, before issuing a warning of sorts. "It's nothing easy about [driving these cars on this track in these conditions], I promise you that. There's definitely a lot of guys sliding around and with this new spoiler package the cars drove a bit different than what they have in previous years."