"That's the hardest one I've taken in a long time," Stewart said. "It just blew a right front tire, I guess, and went straight in. It didn't try to turn or anything -- it was a real tight part of the corner. It hit so hard, it's got my lower back sore and made my legs almost feel about half-numb and just tingle until we got to the infield care center.
"We smacked it (Saturday) -- I tried to knock the fence down yesterday in the Nationwide race and thought I'd made some ground on it and tried to finish it off. But it shows how good the soft walls are -- they don't go anywhere still
Jeff Gordon suffered what may be the hardest crash of his career when he tapped the rear of Matt Kenseth's car coming off turn two on a late race restart. Gordon's car then slid to the inside and slammed head-on into an abutment on the retaining wall. His car exploded sending car parts including the entire radiator of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back across the track.
"Well, it was a little bit my fault,” Gordon said later. ”I didn't want to be on the inside there. My car was really too tight. I wanted to get a run on the outside. But when (Matt) Kenseth and (Dale Earnhardt) Junior got side-by-side, I had the momentum. I went to the inside and I got down to the bottom and thought it was going to stick. I got in the gas and I drifted up into Matt and hated that that happened.”
NASCAR immediately red flagged the race as safety teams tended to Gordon who after a short while stepped out of his car unaided but clearly shaken by the impact. Speaking after the race Gordon implored circuit owner Bruton Smith to make changes to the gap in the back stretch wall.
“I've got two things to say,” Gordon said. “Bruton (Smith, owner and founder of Speedway Motorsports Inc.), you need a soft wall and to change the wall back there on the back straightaway.”
Gordon was scored in 35th place. But the finish for Gordon was the last thing on his mind after he exited the infield care center.
"I'm okay but I'm going to be really sore tomorrow.” Gordon said. “It was a really, really hard hit. It took me a while to be able to catch my breath and to get out. I looked down and I saw where the transmission was and it was no longer there.
I couldn't have hit the wall at a worse angle. It really tore the thing up. I'm really disappointed right now in this speedway for not having a soft wall back there. And even being able to get to that part of the wall shouldn't happen.”
ABOUT CSD
