Video: Earnhardt Jr., Stewart in Practice Crash

A number of drivers -- including Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and a host of others -- decided they had had enough practice on Friday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway after just one session in preparation for the Amp Energy Drink 500.

That appears to have been a smart move because just about nine minutes into the weekend's final practice session Friday, a Goodyear tire off of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car decided to hit the fan:



As you can see, Earnhardt Jr. was leading a pack of about 10 cars into turn three of the 2.5-mile high-banked circuit when his right-rear tire decided to imitate a hot dog kept in the microwave a little too long.


The explosion was incredible -- notice the sheet metal and rear wing flying off the car -- and caused the No. 88 to lose control, spinning down the track in front of several cars.

Among those included were David Gilliland, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, and David Reutimann. Stewart opted to not go to the backup car thanks to a decision by crew chief Greg Zippidelli, but Kasey Kahne and Earnhardt Jr. definitely opted to pull out the new rides.

The practice in which this happened was slated to run for 45-minutes, but a 30+ minute delay thanks to this crash left teams with only about 20 minutes of on-track time. However, thanks to Talladega being an impound race, the teams that crashed and went to backup cars won't be starting out back because qualifying is scheduled for 12:05pm/ET on Saturday, with SPEED TV coverage airing a tape-delayed version at 1:00pm/ET.

Earnhardt Jr., though, may still have to start out back because he changed an engine in the day's first practice. NASCAR rules state that a team has to start last if they change the engine at any point in the weekend, but if a team has to roll out a backup car, that only leaves the team starting last if it happens after qualifying. We'll have to see what NASCAR decides.