Daytona's 'Big One' Takes Earnhardt Out Of Race Early

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The "Big One," a 13-car accident at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night took out fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. before NASCAR's Coke Zero 400 was even halfway complete.

The accident on the backstretch was triggered when Kasey Kahne's Dodge tapped David Stremme's Dodge from behind. Eleven more cars were collected, including Earnhardt and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon -- both truly innocent victims of the smoky melee.

Earnhardt, the 2001 winner of this race, entered the weekend needing a good run, acknowledging Friday that his championship chances are dwindling. He was 285 points behind 12th place Juan Pablo Montoya entering the night. Only the top 12 drivers qualify for NASCAR's version of playoffs and there are only eight more races before the championship field is set.

"I guess there were a couple of guys going for the same piece of real estate and I tried to stay high, '' an obviously disappointed Earnhardt said. "The National Guard Chevrolet was just getting going. I thought we had a shot of getting up there and mixing it up with the leaders. ''

Gordon's Chevrolet was able to continue, although badly damaged. Their teammate Mark Martin was involved in an accident on lap 14 and the fourth member of the Hendrick stable, Jimmie Johnson, was a top-five car all evening, ultimately finishing second.

Earnhardt ended up being credited with 39th place and dropped two positions in the standings to 21st - 356 points behind new 12th place driver Kasey Kahne.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

7-04-2009 @ 11:37PM

K.S. REDDEN said...

When are people going to realize that Jr. is a never was,never will be. He is so overrated. Seems like a decent guy but, come on, He's a terrible driver among bad ones. Real Racecar drivers don't drive in NASCAR. What a joke the whole Cup series is. LOL!!

7-05-2009 @ 12:02AM

pnut166 said...

"..and I tried to stay high, '' an obviously disappointed Earnhardt said. >>>> He looks like he`s trying to stay high, alright.

7-05-2009 @ 12:24AM

drillsgtwife said...

Jr is the real deal! He was a victim tonight. I was happy that Smoke won and took out Kyle!

7-07-2009 @ 5:00PM

Chris said...

Kyle Bush is a real Race Car driver, JR just goes in circles and collects his check. Not like his Dad who wants to win. Kyle is more like Dale than JR is.

7-05-2009 @ 12:29AM

mgarnt said...

just wait to hear all the whinning from the #18 driver (can't even say his name) tomorrow. One thing for sure---all of these new drivers need to go to school to learn how to bump draft.

7-07-2009 @ 3:04PM

bjohnboy1 said...

kyle can out drive jr blind

7-05-2009 @ 12:32AM

ginger said...

I AM SO GLAD THAT STEWART HELD OFF AND WON! EVEN HAPPIER THAT BUSH HIT THE WAY AMONG OTHER THINGS. I AM SO SICK OF BUSH'S MOUTH..GUESSS HE IS WHINING TONIGHT THAT STEWART WRECKED HIM. JR. WILL MAKE A RETURN...HE IS AN AWESOME DRIVER AND HE WILL BE BACK...CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT BUSH HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE RACE TONIGHT....

7-05-2009 @ 12:37AM

josephrogerssr said...

Alright Tony #14.WTG Awesome race.Kyle should have settled for 2nd instead of wrecking himself and a few other drivers.Once again,Alright Tony.

7-05-2009 @ 12:43AM

Billy said...

Bring back real race cars, the ones that look like cars I see on the road.

7-05-2009 @ 1:25AM

imracyntx said...

AOL--YOU SUCK!! This was NOT the headline of the race, or the biggest thing that happened. Holly, get over your obsession with Junior and write about the REAL news.

7-05-2009 @ 1:48AM

roosmccy said...

you jr fans got to be on crack

7-11-2009 @ 11:42PM

missy said...

kyle busch fans are definately on CRACK (BUTT CRACK) that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7-05-2009 @ 2:33AM

nzcr14 said...

ok forget it drive by's. i'm not even going to post here. of course this blog had to turn in to another junior bash slam.
i saw the accident with A-1 QUALITY BINOCULARS and the video afterwards on YUHOO.
NO WAY JUNIOR COULD AVOID GETTING CAUGHT IN.
SO GOODBY.

7-05-2009 @ 2:42AM

retazasu said...

When are you JR. fans going to realize what a loser he really is?? His TV interviews are the DUMBEST-by far of any driver. He can't drive or speak--What a loser--If his last name wasn't Earnheardt he would be bagging grocies at Safeway. I best part of Dale Jr. must have run down Dale Sr's leg.

7-05-2009 @ 3:15AM

Brad said...

Speaking of losers retazasu, the best part of you must be stuck in roosmccy's crack. If you can't spell or compose a sentence and do nothing but cheap shot Jr. then please do us all a favor and just shut up.

7-05-2009 @ 5:04AM

well RETARD AS U, BETTER JUNIOR PACKING GROCERYES AT SAFEWAY THAN YOU PACKING TRASH AT THE NUTHOUSE THEY THREW YOU IN.
JUST THINK IF JUNIOR LAST NAME would been RETARD AS U instead of EARNHARDT;He would not need to speak, not need to do interviews but have an extreme need to wear a restraining canvas around his body and chains around his ankles to keep him safe with you
and ROSESNITCH. right???

7-05-2009 @ 5:17AM

LMAOROF,,,,,,now that was funny Anna, thanks for the good laugh.

Aloha, Brad

P.S. GO TONY

7-05-2009 @ 5:30AM

had few drinks by now brad so the funny gets to be the funnyest, lmao, could not let the rosesmack and the retard get away with such crap.
earlyer the others got away cause i was still sober, lol, skooollll, 1 more down the drain, lol.
tequila el diablo, skoooolll. ROTFLMAO. you welcome.

7-05-2009 @ 7:13AM

illsell4u said...

I was hoping when I got here there would have been more than two intelligent people in the room. Oh well.
Jr spent the first 1/3 of the race between 24th and 34th places. Unfortunately for Jr this wreck happened just as Jr's team had gotten it right and he was moving forward pretty quickly. He had broken into the top 15 or so for the first time all night. Something not mentioned in this article or by the TV announcers.
Of more interest to me and what was totally lost on the TV announcers was what the hell happened to Jeff Gordon. He had worked his way up to 8th place after getting shuffled to the rear with Jr. Then, all of the sudden he was moving backwards faster than Jr was moving forwards only to get caught up in the same wreck, or one of the three or four wrecks actually that happened. Don't any of the writers or news people think it is newsworthy that the only team that was within 100 points of first was taken out?
mbl

7-05-2009 @ 2:27PM

Your right Mike,

As much as I like Jr. ( and many others ) I'm tired of hearing about him, I was wondering myself what the hell was going on with Gordon but oh no we get to hear about how Jr. was taken out,,,,,ok so what it's a common senario these days. By the way how did you like Kyle trying to kill himself?