Stewart worried in three-motor vehicle ruin at delivery of NASCAR observe

AP photo/Mike McCarn

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Tony Stewart could not stay away from the oil spill on the concrete track that spun his Chevrolet and slammed the motor vehicle into an unprotected wall on the front stretch.

"That harm," he informed his team over the radio.

Spins ensue, or not it's part of racing.

but the truth his motor vehicle struck an exposed wall simply days after Dover overseas Speedway touted its addition of power-absorbing gentle partitions - SAFER limitations - made NASCAR drivers ask why each and every a part of the unforgiving partitions were not covered.

"there is in reality no excuse not to have it," pole winner Kevin Harvick observed. "We do not put on our helmets and HANS c ontraptions for the influences that we are prepared for. We put on these things for the circumstances where those one-off issues can occur like what took place today."

just four minutes into Friday's lone observe, Danica Patrick's No. 10 dumped oil on the song, spun and the rear of her Chevrolet burst into flames. Stewart turned into behind her and the No. 14 followed the skids marks into the oil and smacked the wall. Jamie McMurray additionally became collected in the smash, his No. 1 Chevy also a sufferer of the uncovered portion of the wall. McMurray held his left elbow as he left the tune medical middle.

Stewart, who did not check with the media, suffered his first critical hit on account that his return from a back injury for what may be his closing season in dash Cup. Stewart ignored the primary eight races of the season with a fractured vertebra suffered in a January all-terrain car accident. He and Stewart-Haas Racing team mate Patrick back to the music later in backup cars, as did McMurray.

"You be troubled for Tony, simply making certain he's good enough after everything he has undergone physically," Patrick said.

Stewart-Haas Racing referred to Stewart was nice. Greg Zipadelli, SHR vice chairman of competitors, referred to Patrick's automobile suffered from equipment concerns. McMurray made light of his injury on Twitter.

"Elbow could be sore for a long time....nothing 'humorous' about it," he tweeted.

The drivers don't seem to be laughing, primarily with safety again on the forefront as a result of recent issues over the likelihood of vehicles racing with unsecured lug nuts. through the use of lower than 5 on each and every tire, a team would have a sooner pit stop and potentially profit music position. Stewart complained the practice changed into bad, and NASCAR fined him $35,000 for his critic ism. NASCAR then talked about it could determine all vehicles for five lug nuts earlier than and after each race. bound sufficient, Kyle Busch's crew chief and tire changer for one race for violating the lug nut coverage right through the group's win at Kansas last weekend.

Dover simply completed the installation of 479 toes of SAFER obstacles alongside the backstretch and into the doorway of flip three. That includes 78 toes of general SAFER boundaries to the latest inner backstretch wall and 401 feet in front of a new, metal post inside wall.

Patrick two weeks in the past suffered perhaps probably the most scary crash of her profession when her automobile caught fireplace and ran smack into an energy-absorbing wall at Talladega with eight laps to head. She was bruised and it harm to breathe.

"all of the experiences I've had hitting the wall, those the place you hit the wall I feel I saw or not it's about twice the G-load have an effect on should you hit a non-safer barrier," Patrick said Friday. "It shouldn't even be a query no matter if or now not tracks have SAFER barrier the entire means around. it's going to be mandatory. It isn't a financial choice."

Tracks discuss with NASCAR and institution of Nebraska safeguard specialists for soft wall placement ideas. Dover President Mike Tatoian informed The linked Press the tune spent about $four hundred,000 on the new SAFER obstacles. Tatoian would no longer rule out including more.

"here is a new information element and it will be reviewed. we are able to react as a result," he talked about. "it's no longer a financial choice. it be what's prudent, what's the right resolution."

Six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, a 10-time winner at Dover, mentioned he "just assumed" every wall at Dover had a SAFER barrier. since the boundaries extended the wall closer to the track floor, drivers would should discover a new groove if the walls altered the racing circumstances.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. referred to drivers were exceptional once walls have been installed at different tight tracks corresponding to Bristol and Martinsville. The three drivers in Friday's fiery wreck have been pushing about a hundred and sixty mph at the time of the accident.

"At this region you hit one wall and you slide down and you hit one more," Earnhardt spoke of. "you are going to get a couple licks there in some of those circumstances that don't seem to be going to be lots of enjoyable."

it be the form of punishing blow that drivers would love to soften.

"Man, i might take a tender wall over a hard wall any day in any circumstance," Johnson talked about.