Earnhardt Jr.’s gaffe a costly one

CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. rallied from a lap down to get back in the top 10, then crashed himself and teammate Michael Waltrip with a crucial mistake Sunday night.

As the two raced down the frontstretch in the Coca-Cola 600, Junior tapped Waltrip from behind, triggering a five-car wreck that took him, Waltrip, Matt Kenseth and Terry Labonte out of contention. Labonte, a two-time Nextel Cup champ, was taken to the hospital for observation, then later was released.

Ryan Newman also was involved, but his crew repaired his Dodge and he was able to continue.

“I don’t know what happened,” Waltrip said in measured tones. “I’m trying to figure it out. I was running with the 8 car and I think he got into me.”

Tony Eury Sr., director of competition at Dale Earnhardt Inc., was Earnhardt’s crew chief until this season, and he tried in vain to control his frustration with watching two of his cars taken out in the same wreck.

“I don’t know what his problem is with Michael, but it will be fixed tomorrow, I guarantee it,” Eury said.

Kenseth blamed the incident partly on the racing conditions. With the newly ground track providing a challenge to the drivers over the weekend, passing was extremely difficult.

“I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Kenseth said. “It’s impossible to pass. I mean, unless a miracle happens, the fastest car won’t win the race. Wherever you are, that’s where you’d run.”

Earnhardt returned less than 20 laps later after repairs, while the others except for Newman were done for the night.

And DEI wasn’t the only team to lose two cars in the same crash. Sterling Marlin and Casey Mears, teammates at Chip Ganassi Racing, slammed together in Turn 2 on lap 217, with Marlin relegated to 39th because he couldn’t continue.

Martin Truex Jr., driving the third Chevrolet for DEI, was responsible for starting this incident, sliding up into Mears and forcing him into a spin. As Marlin tried to go to the bottom of the track, Mears slid down and knocked Marlin into the wall.

On his pit box, team owner Chip Ganassi could only hold his head in his hands.

“Martin Truex just tried to throw it in too hard,” Mears said. “He got a two-for-one deal because he got Sterling, too. I’m OK, but I’m a little upset because it was so stupid. I don’t understand when something like that happens.”

Truex was able to drive away.

Then in the final 20 laps, Brian Vickers bumped Bill Elliott from behind and started another big wreck on the frontstretch. Jeff Gordon, Vickers’ teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, couldn’t avoid the melee, and neither could Mark Martin.

Gordon made a couple of more laps before pulling into the garage, and he finished one spot ahead of Vickers in 29th. Martin got back on the track after losing one lap and was running at the finish for the 34th consecutive race, the longest streak on the circuit.

Busch’s slump continues

Kurt Busch’s chance to snap a two-race slump ended early in the Coca-Cola 600.

The defending Nextel Cup champ spun in Turn 2 on the ninth lap and backed into the wall, then took his Ford to the garage. He wasn’t sure what happened, but speculated that fluid leaking from another car might have been a factor.

Finishes of 37th and 17th the past two weeks dropped him from second to fifth in the standings.

Wallace, Martin honored

The gifts just keep coming for retiring drivers Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

At the drivers’ meeting, Lowe’s Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler saluted them with framed photos of the trips to Victory Lane in the Coca-Cola 600. Martin won in 2002 and Wallace won in 1990.

“This is the last Coca-Cola 600 for two great drivers, and we have something that we want to commemorate this day with, since both of you can’t win,” Wheeler said.