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Earnhardt Crashes; Losses Daytona 500 Pole

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Against his better judgment, Dale Earnhardt Jr. elected to practice on Wednesday to prepare for the upcoming Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500. While drafting with teammate Jimmie Johnson and two others, the foursome had to take evasive action while overtaking slower traffic. Johnson got loose and Earnhardt spun, collecting Martin Truex Jr., who was trailing him.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr works with the crew to ready the backup car for competition. [Russ Lake Photo]


The two spun through the grass with Earnhardt ramming an inside wall before careening off it and into Truex. Both cars were too damaged to continue, forcing them into back-up cars and the rear of the starting field for the Duel. For Earnhardt, his plight was worse as one of only two officially qualified cars, he will also drop to the rear of the Daytona 500 field.

Johnson and Brian Vickers got away unscathed but frustrated with the outcome.

The incident took place just after Johnson and Earnhardt had completed laps exceeding 199 miles per hour with Truex and Vickers immediately behind them. The trio of slower cars appeared to be moving into the space of the fast cars and Johnson checked up leaving Earnhardt with nowhere to go and catching Truex off-guard.

Earnhardt’s secondary car was without an engine and fuel cell, and he was unable to practice with it prior to the Duel.

“The guys on the inside looked like they were creeping up, giving me the impression they were closing the hole,” Earnhardt said dejectedly. “Jimmie (Johnson) lifted and about wrecked, and I got off the gas. Truex didn’t have a chance. If you are going to come out here and race, you have to pay attention. I didn’t feel good about getting out there and practicing. I had a bad feeling about it and when you come up on guys that didn’t have their heads on straight and you get into an accident.”

Truex apologized to Earnhardt about having nowhere to go. “I was working with Brian Vickers, and we were going back and forth with the No. 48 (Johnson) and the No. 88 (Earnhardt) and us two,” Truex said. “The slower cars looked like they just came up in front of the No. 48 and No. 88. I saw them wiggling and tried to save it, but the guy pushing is pushing fast. The next thing you know we’re spinning. It’s unfortunate.”

Added Earnhardt, “We might have had room on the outside but it would have been real tight. NASCAR has slowed the cars down, but it makes the closing rate with a two-car pack even faster. It is hard and hopefully there won’t be more accidents this week.”

The slower cars appeared to be those of Robby Gordon, David Gilliland and Michael Waltrip.

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