18-car restart crash takes out host of Dover contenders
Jimmie Johnson’s car didn’t get going on a restart at Dover with 47 laps to go and it led to an 18-car pileup.
“As soon as I went from second [gear] and tried to go to third, I kind of got up into the neutral gate of the transmission and didn’t even go to third,” Johnson said. “It stopped before it ever went to third. And then I tried fourth and third and fourth and eventually I got hit from behind.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked like he was able to get past the wreck but he was clobbered by the spinning car of Casey Mears in turn 1.
“They started wrecking way up in front of us,” Junior said. “I couldn’t really tell what was going on. I got to the outside and thought we had it missed, but [Mears] came up the track, he got collected in it.”
Truex Jr. had slowed leaving pit road before the restart, apparently in an attempt to restart on the preferred outside line. He got that starting position but ended up with a giant hole in the front of his car from ramming into Johnson’s back bumper. Truex had appeared to have the fastest car throughout the final stages of Sunday’s race and was attempting to get a win a week after a victory slipped away.
Truex had to make a second pit stop under green while leading late at Kansas. The stop meant Truex lost his chance at winning after he had dominated most of the race.
Matt Kenseth, the driver who was leading at the time of the restart, escaped without any damage. He went on to hold off Kyle Larson win for the first time in 2016.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
