It has been quite an eventful first 160 laps of the 400 lap FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.
The most recent incident occurred at Lap 159 when a piece of concrete broke free from the racing surface on the one-mile, all-concrete racetrack.
The roughly softball sized piece made a direct hit to the lower part of the front end of Jamie McMurray’s Chevrolet, putting a sizeable dent in the bumper and splitter. NASCAR would not allow McMurray’s team to work on the car during the red flag conditions, but it will be able to do so once the event switches back to yellow flag caution conditions.
NASCAR officials then red-flagged the race so repairs (photo) could be made to the hole, which was right in the middle of the backstretch coming out of turn 2.
And, it was subsequently learned that when McMurray hit the chunk of concrete, parts of it flew up and struck the glass of the crossover walkway above the track at the exit of Turn 2. It does not appear anyone was injured in that incident.
And we haven’t even gotten to halfway yet, either!
Makes you wonder what other maladies are still to come.
Working backwards through the rest of the race:
* A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were all involved in a wreck on Lap 135 that also temporarily brought out a red flag condition.
Biffle’s and Stenhouse’s cars both suffered heavy damage. While it’s likely Stenhouse is done for the day, Biffle’s team is attempting to repair the damage to get him back on the racetrack.
Allmendinger, meanwhile, was able to continue.
* Then, 10 laps before that on Lap 125, Kyle Busch’s hopes for a weekend sweep came to an abrupt end when the right front of his Toyota made contact with the rear of Clint Bowyer’s Toyota.
The incident apparently cut down Busch’s right front tire as just seconds later he piled into the outside retaining wall.
Busch initially refused to come onto pit road, remaining on the racetrack – even with a flat right front tire and the damage to his car – and appeared as if he was going to retaliate to Bowyer.
Even though the track was under yellow flag caution conditions, Busch accelerated and looked as if he was going to get into Bowyer’s rear end, but eventually took his car to the garage after pleading from crew chief Dave Rogers over the team radio.
At the same time, Bowyer also accelerated to try and avoid Busch, who ultimately gave up his pursuit and drove to the garage.
To add insult to injury, Busch was forced to wait to get into the garage because a track sweeper was blocking the entrance to the garage area.
Busch was attempting to become only the second driver in NASCAR history to win all three major races on the same weekend. Busch is the only one to have done that previously, having won all three at Bristol in August 2010.
* It was a very quick race for Michael Waltrip Racing driver Brian Vickers, who was forced to retire after just 73 laps due to a blown motor.
* Sprint Cup rookie Alex Bowman brushed the wall twice in the first quarter of the lap, bringing out the caution flag once.
* Josh Wise also sustained right rear damage when he also brushed the wall, but was able to get to pit road without a caution flag.
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