Wrecks "Unlimited" During NASCAR'S Non Points Race
Brian Vickers, driving the # 14 Mobil 1 Chevy for Tony Stewart, wrecks on lap 22 of Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited. Denny Hamlin was the ultimate winner under caution. Photo: NASCAR.com
There was nothing unlimited about the turmoil and drama during Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway, a non points race that kicks off the long awaited return to NASCAR action for fans. Especially the wrecks.
The crashes started early at lap 13 when Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers got into eachother in the back of the pack. Hamlin came to pit road to repair some damage to his right side, while Vickers had to make some repairs of his own.
Ricky Stenhouse got loose and Brad Keselowski picked up drebris on his grill and the 2's water temps climbed very high, but he caught a break on the next caution and was able to have it cleaned off. The 14 of Vickers was not so lucky on lap 22 when he took a vicious turn into the outside wall and slid back down into the infield grass, clipping Clint Bowyer on the way down. Dale Earhardt Jr was involved in that wreck with the side of his #88 Taxslayer Chevrolet being sliced off revealing the blue safety foam that sits between the outside door and the roll cage. Also involved in that wreck, and receiving some kind of damage were Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and AJ Almendinger. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time for those guys.
Lap 44 brought out another caution for the #48 of Jimmie Johnson, as he spun going three wide with the #13 of Casey Mears and the 27 of Paul Menard. Johnson's front end was torn off, sending him stratight to the garage. Chad Knaus told Johnson and crew "good job guys, thanks for the hard work". Way to keep your chin up, Chad... Except it was Johnson's fifth straight DNF in the Unlimited.
Jamie McMurray got into Kasey Khane, who got into AJ Allmendinger in Turn 3 to bring out another caution. With 10 laps to go, Khane was forced to the garage when something blew on his Great Clips Chevy, dropping fluid on the track. Good think NASCAR saw it and threw the yellow. We wouldn't want any drivers being crybabies about that (*cough cough* 18 *hack cough*)
In the final laps, Kurt Busch in the 41 gets into the wall and while the cameras are on him there was a big wreck in the backstretch with several cars involved. Casey Mears gets into Brad Keselowski who gets into Carl Edwards, sending the whole field scattering. This sets up an overtime scenario where Denny Hamlin just had to get back to the overtime line painted on the track, without a wreck, to win the race. Since there was a wreck, the field froze under caution and Hamlin made it back around to the checkered to win the race. (video courtesy of Fox Sports)
The 58th running of the Great American Race, The Daytona 500, is next Sunday, February 21st at noon on Fox. Check your local listings.
