By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It had to happen eventually.
Wednesday’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice brought the first major accident of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.
Ty Dillon’s No. 95 Chevrolet spewed oil on the track, the result of an oil cooler cracked along the weld. Cars running behind Dillon’s in Turn 2 checked up, and Michael Waltrip’s No. 93 Toyota tapped the back of Ryan Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet, spinning the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
That started a chain reaction that saw the No. 35 Ford of David Gilliland turn Waltrip’s Camry into the outside wall. Behind Gilliland, Chris Buescher rear-ended the No. 42 Chevy of Kyle Larson, who will start Thursday night’s second Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying race from the rear of the field.
“Once we got into the oil, it was a chain reaction, and I got shoved into the wall,” Larson said.
Waltrip also was forced to a backup and will drop to the back for the start of the second Duel.
“I really hate it for those guys behind us,” Dillon said. “It’s just one of those weird situations. I hate that it tore up race cars. I couldn’t do anything to make it any different. We were just getting the pack going.
“It was unfortunate for everybody involved. I hate it for our guys that our race car is torn up. It’s just as simple as a cracked weld on an oil cooler. Hey, we didn’t catch it early enough. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll be fine. We have time to get everything fixed, and I just hope the other guys do, too.”
By the time Dillon made his comments, Newman’s crew already was hard at work, hoping to salvage the primary car for Thursday’s qualifying races.
Image: NASCAR Media Group
