Earlier incident leads to retaliation from No. 55
RELATED: Follow your picks in the Chase Battle Grid Presented by Toyota
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers exchanged bumps — and their cars exchanged bruises — throughout the first half of Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway before the NASCAR tower put an end to it.
Kahne’s day still ended early from a wreck, although Vickers had nothing to do with it. Kahne was caught up in a five-car incident on Lap 438 that began when Brad Keselowski‘s car dropped speed suddenly, with Kahne getting caught up in the wreckage.
Still, it was the No. 55 Toyota on Kahne’s mind when the Hendrick Motorsports driver was checked out of the infield care center.
“I was passing him and he ran me into the Turn 2 wall, or he was going to, so I lifted and he blocked into 3, so I turned to go low and then he comes low,” Kahne said of their Lap 161 incident. “So, he spun himself out. I think he thought I had spun him out. I was just trying to get by him. I tried right, I tried left. He was using every lane.
“I don’t really understand why he was so mad. I was surprised when he spun me later, that he was even mad at me.”
Vickers hit the wall and was forced down pit road after that tap, the first of three incidents between the two drivers.
“He just turned you,” Vickers’ spotter said over the radio after that first instance.
The Michael Waltrip Racing driver would repay the favor on Lap 222 and follow it up with a bit of faux concern — and incredible sarcasm — over the radio.
“The car just went straight when I got down to (Turn) 1,” Vickers mused. “Be sure and check that splitter. Something must be wrong.”
Kahne’s car was fixed, and he made his way through the field until he was behind Vickers again in Turn 1 on Lap 279 — in which he promptly spun Vickers in an incident that also involved Keselowski, who did not incur significant damage.
“Alright, we owe him another. We can do this all day long,” Vickers radioed to his team.
Not quite.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Managing Event Director David Hoots radioed to “tell the 5 and 55 it’s over. It’s done.”
Kahne’s day was officially done exactly 160 laps later. He was scored in 40th
“It was a bad race for us,” Kahne said. “It wasn’t a good race. It hasn’t been a good year.”
MORE:
|
|
PLAY: Monitor your Chase Grid Game picks
|
WATCH: Latest
|
FOLLOW LIVE: Get
|
|---|
Chase news
