First '09 Crash Grabs Menard, Speed

If the starting order of Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona left you feeling a little bit uneasy about the start of the non-points dash for cash, well, Friday night's practice likely isn't going to calm your nerves:



Yep, that first yellow car to spin is Shootout pole winner Paul Menard and Scott Speed -- in the silver car -- is scheduled to start fourth with Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorenson in between them.

This accident wasn't exactly casting a direct foreshadow of Saturday night's activities because Menard didn't make a mistake, but rather just had a tire go flat. Speed's reaction, however, seemed a little bit interesting in that he just continued into the path of Menard without any drastic attempts to stay away from him.

I'll give Speed the benefit of the doubt, though, because the practice session was just his second time on-track in a Sprint Cup Series car with in the draft of restrictor plate racing. After all, it's hard to play armchair NASCAR driver for a guy who's following other cars at over 190 miles per hour.

Neither team is expected to head to a backup car for the race -- allowing them to keep their spot on the starting grid -- and thankfully for Speed, the accident came late in practice meaning he had quite a few laps under his belt prior to the Shootout.