Drivers forced to back-ups in crash-filled practices

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With a wider restrictor plate giving more speed and Daytona International Speedway's ancient pavement providing little grip for one last time, no less than nine drivers were upset after a three-car wreck in the first practice and a five-car melee on the backstretch midway through final practice forced seven teams to pull out backup cars.

Kyle Busch's crew gets the backup ready.

Coke Zero 400

Final Practice

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1.	Robby Gordon	195.126
2.	Greg Biffle	194.317
3.	Marcos Ambrose	194.250
4.	Kasey Kahne	194.217
5.	A.J. Allmendinger	194.133

• Final Practice | Practice 1

Plethora of crashes

• Busch, Ragan tangle
• Logano spins in final practice
• Rough day for JGR continues

Kasey Kahne, David Ragan and Kyle Busch were all forced to go to backup cars after getting caught up in the same incident 20 minutes into the first practice. It was the first of two wrecks for Busch on the day.

"I don't know what happened," said Kahne, who made 12 laps and was 20th in the first practice with a lap of 192.131 mph. "The No. 18 [Busch] and the No. 6 [Ragan] spun and they were down under the white line. I got slowed up and then the No. 6 came spinning back up and down the track again. I was surprised he came back up, but I just clipped him. I didn't hit him hard, but hard enough to ruin our car."

As Kahne predicted, his backup was actually better, by a half-second, than his primary car, as he was fourth in final practice with a lap of 194.217 mph.

"I was getting into Turn 3 and we got a little bit free and the No. 18 ran up the track and just barely touched us -- I didn't need much to help me go around because I was already a little free," said Ragan, who made 14 laps and was 14th in the first practice with a lap of 192.612. "I just needed a little bit of room to work with and the No. 18 was right there and probably took some air off our spoiler and touched us a little bit. That's unfortunate this early in practice to tear one up."

"The first one was really fast," Busch said of his role. "The No. 6 got loose in front of me and we just got hit from behind."

Busch actually hit Ragan's car twice before Ragan spun, then smashed Busch's car broadside, sending it into a spin to the inside of the race track, as well.

Busch's woes continued in final practice when, about 53 minutes into the session, he nicked the back of teammate Denny Hamlin's Toyota and turned it into Reed Sorenson's Red Bull Racing No. 83. As they raced by on the inside, Tony Stewart and Robert Richardson Jr. got caught up in the wreck. (Continued)