Anyone see the Nationwide Race?

[RaikkonenRules]

Fat Tony won but complete chaos behind.

Carl Edwards got completely owned when Kevin Lepage made the dumbest move of the year when he pulled out of the pits and merged right in front of the pack at 70mph causing the big one.

Morgan Shepherd finished 13th too :D

[wedge]

Absolutely unbelievable!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSKfjNbTig

[grantb4]

"I thought I was OK, and though 'Those guys did a good job of missing me,'" Franchitti said. "Then I got KO'd."

It was a frightening crash, causing a broken ankle that will keep the Scottish-born driver out for at least two weeks.

And it brought back memories of Alex Zanardi, who had the front of his Champ car — and his legs —taken off by a speeding Alex Tagliani in Germany seven years ago. Franchitti was in that race and at the hospital afterwards.

That crash was in a much smaller, lower and less well-built open-wheel car, and it's part of the irony for Franchitti, the Indy 500 winner who switched to stock cars this year: that this type of accident happened now and not last season, especially since many have wondered whether he made the change out of safety concerns.

"I got asked that question a lot: 'Are you coming here because it's safer?' and I said 'No,' because if you are looking for something safe to do, do not drive a racing car," he said. "Racing is dangerous, whether it's NASCAR or Indy cars.

"Everyone is doing everything they can to make these things as safe as possible. Everybody is working hard to make these things safe, but racing isn't safe and we know that."

[Simmi]

If I was Dario I would not be happy with the car that hit him. I think they said during the cup race the guy who hit him came into the corner 8 seconds behind Dario. It actually looks like he tries to hit him in the video.

And also Lepage was amazing with his delusional comments about it being every other persons fault apart from his own.

[Sparky1329]

I have never seen a bigger bonehead move than the one pulled by Kevin LePage. I could almost excuse him if he was a rookie but he's been around forever. What does he do during the driver's meeting when he's not listening to Joe Balash?

I wonder how far a race car travelling at 200 mph goes before it can come come to a complete halt even if the driver is standing on the brake. I'll bet it's quite a distance. Since I've never driven at that speed I'll refrain from making a judgment about Larry Gunsleman.

[RaikkonenRules]

That would be Larry Gunselman who was towards the back. He just didn't seem to slow down at all, all he did to try and avoid it was try and drive around him flat out. :rolleyes:

[blown50stang]

Le page , what a dangerous fool, edwards had no where to go and i bet 100mph more speed.Le page needs to grow a brain . fast

[Cindy_AL]

Not sure how much they showed on TV of the aftermath of Dario's car but I dont believe I have seen a harder hit at Dega on the drivers side. :eek: He was VERY fortunate to walk away with only a broken ankle. Did they talk about how NASCAR confiscated the car?

[NickFalzone]

i agree Cindy that's one of the worst hits I've ever seen. If Dario took that in an open-wheel car he'd be in serious condition. I don't entirely blame Larry but I hate this tactic to run full out during a wreck. I know that sometimes braking can cause more wrecks, but it's just dumb to stay on it when you can't see anything. If he'd hit the brake earlier the hit wouldn't have been nearly as bad. And Carl also took a much worse hit then he let on in interviews. He looked very disoriented in that first interview and I guarantee he was banged up more than he let on. LePage needs to watch that again on tv if he honestly thinks he wasn't at fault.

[Sparky1329]

What really ticked me off about Lepage was that he couldn't understand why the drivers were mad at him! Hello? He has since issued a written apology after the fact. I'm pretty sure NASCAR's butt chewing helped him see the error of his ways.

http://www.thatsracin.com/116/story/13467.html


After looking at replays of a multicar crash in Saturday's Nationwide Series race, driver Kevin Lepage issued a letter of apology on Sunday.

"I caused 'The Big One,' " Lepage said. "I realize I need to apologize to NASCAR, the car owners, my fellow competitors and most importantly the fans. I made a huge driver error by blending onto the race track in the wrong area.

"This caused a multi-car accident and changed the outcome of the race for many teams. I'm so thankful that no one was hurt considering the number of cars involved. In over 25 years of racing this was the biggest mistake I've ever made behind the wheel of a stock car and I promise that it will not happen again.

"It is such a terrible feeling knowing that NASCAR, the car owners, fellow competitors and NASCAR fans think this was a 'bonehead' move and I certainly don't want anyone thinking of me in these terms. Speaking yesterday before reviewing the tapes of the accident made me look like a heel and there is not a single person to blame for this huge mistake except myself."

[JovialJooles]

i agree Cindy that's one of the worst hits I've ever seen. If Dario took that in an open-wheel car he'd be in serious condition. I don't entirely blame Larry but I hate this tactic to run full out during a wreck. I know that sometimes braking can cause more wrecks, but it's just dumb to stay on it when you can't see anything. If he'd hit the brake earlier the hit wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

Why was he still racing? I thought we had stopped racing back to the line.

Didn't his spotter tell him to back it down?

There is no excuse whatsoever to be travelling that quickly so far back. He was at least 8 seconds behind. If his reactions are that slow, I don't think I would like to be near him during the next superspeedway race.

[tstran17_88]

Why was he still racing? I thought we had stopped racing back to the line.

Didn't his spotter tell him to back it down?

There is no excuse whatsoever to be travelling that quickly so far back. He was at least 8 seconds behind. If his reactions are that slow, I don't think I would like to be near him during the next superspeedway race.There's a reason that some drivers never make it out of the Nationwide Series and some of those same drivers never get hooked up with a top team.

Outside of Tony Stewart, LePage and Gunselman did two of the most stupidest things I've ever seen done at a plate race.

[DazzlaF1]

i agree Cindy that's one of the worst hits I've ever seen. If Dario took that in an open-wheel car he'd be in serious condition. I don't entirely blame Larry but I hate this tactic to run full out during a wreck. I know that sometimes braking can cause more wrecks, but it's just dumb to stay on it when you can't see anything. If he'd hit the brake earlier the hit wouldn't have been nearly as bad. And Carl also took a much worse hit then he let on in interviews. He looked very disoriented in that first interview and I guarantee he was banged up more than he let on. LePage needs to watch that again on tv if he honestly thinks he wasn't at fault.

Well in the open wheeled car, they're encased inside a thick carbon fibre safety cell (something i think Dario didnt have in that nationwide serie car) so unless he got a nasty bang on the head from flying debris, i think he would have been fine. Still though it looked a pretty nasty impact.

Its still a shame really as i think he was just starting to get used to this different form of racing after qualifying well at Phoenix

[RaikkonenRules]

Gunselman has now been officially dumped by the MSRP team according to Jayski. Kenny Hendrick ran the #91 at Richmond.

Even the Start and Park teams don't want Gunselman now :p