Afternoon crash sidelines 12 cars in Preseason Thunder

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The cars may be different and a handful of drivers may be with new teams, but at least one thing remains unchanged -- drafting at Daytona International Speedway remains a dangerous endeavor.

On Friday, 12 cars were involved in a multi-car incident on the backstretch during the afternoon portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Preseason Thunder test session.

It unfolded when Marcos Ambrose slapped the wall on the backstretch after contact from Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the Richard Petty Motorsports Ford bounced back into oncoming traffic.

In addition to Earnhardt Jr. and Ambrose, others involved were Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Regan Smith and Martin Truex Jr.

“I guess I just got caught on the edge of the bumper there and with the shaped noses and the tires, (it) just spun me out,” Ambrose said afterward. “It was hardly even a bump. It was just enough at the wrong angle, wrong time and (I) just went for a spin.”

The push wasn’t unwelcome -- help from a trailing car has always been the fastest way around the 2.5-mile track where restrictor plates limit airflow and keep cars running within inches of one another. But unlike past seasons, today’s new cars feature distinct characteristics, particularly on the front end, and thus react differently when contact occurs.

“Certainly we used to get greedy with the old cars,” Ambrose said. “It was very easy to bump draft. … I definitely think it’s a consequence of the new (car) shape and lack of downforce --  the car’s very light and it doesn’t take much.”

While no drivers were injured, several cars were too severely damaged to repair on-site. Those teams packed up, and won’t be around on Saturday for the final day of the three-day test.

Earnhardt Jr. said it appeared Ambrose, running behind the lead car, was “laying back” in an attempt to make a strong run on the backstretch. He said previous bump-drafting efforts with Toyota and Chevrolet entries had been successful, and didn’t anticipate a problem drafting with the Ford entry of Ambrose.

“I was trying to push him a little bit; had a hard time trying to get our bumpers lined up,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We’ve got a roll bar on the front end of my car. First time I’ve pushed a Ford and his car was sitting up on that roll bar and I was kind of wheel-barrowing him around a little bit.”

The incident was the biggest test to date for new safety enhancements on the Generation 6 car, which include bigger roof flaps. Although several cars sped through the infield grass on the backstretch during the incident, each quickly settled back down.

“It looked like the roof flaps did their job,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “The cars sat down (on what) had to be one of the fastest parts of the race track. Everything worked and operated like it was designed to.”

Such incidents aren’t unusual; in fact they’re the norm when NASCAR’s Cup Series competes at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway. Nor is it unusual for them to occur during pre-season testing.

“That’s why they’re here – to test,” Pemberton said. “I think they learned a lot of lessons (in the draft) and they’ll go back to single car runs now.”

Kahne, one of those heading home earlier than expected, said he enjoyed the drafting but said, “you can’t really push. Because as soon as you pushed, the car in front of you started moving around too much.

“I tried it once and then I just didn’t do it anymore,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. “If you can get close to the back of a car, you can give him a pretty good burst, and if there’s an opening … it definitely wasn’t single file (racing), you could move around and race pretty good.”

Top speeds during the fist afternoon drafting session exceeded 199 mph with Trevor Bayne’s 199.650 mph effort tops for the day. In all, seven drivers (Bayne, Logano, Truex Jr., Mark Martin, Edwards, Almirola, and Earnhardt Jr.) topped the 199-mph mark.

Single-car runs were in the 194-196 mph range.