Tire failures cast shadow at Talladega

TALLADEGA - For the first time since the debacle at Indianapolis Motorspeedway in August, tires became the focus of attention Sunday in the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedwat.

At least four crashes resulted from cut or blown tires, including the dreaded Big One on lap 68. Though Talladega, which features a freshly paved, smooth asphalt surface, has never been the scene of tire woes before, Friday was the first warning that this weekend might be different.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost a right front tire in Happy Hour practice, collecting multiple cars and sending several championship contenders to the back of today's field. The fear of a repeat was in the back of Junior's mind.

"To be honest with you, that wasn't no fun," he said. "The tires were blowing. Everybody was scared about the tires blowing. There tires were worrying me; I was scared to death I was going to blow a right front tire again."

Junior didn't lose another tire, but others weren't so lucky.

After an uneventful start, the first tire let go on lap 55, when David Reutimann lost his right rear and spun into Jeff Gordon.

The big trouble hit on lap 68, when Brian Vickers' right front exploded with the Red Bull Toyota running second. The car swerved into Martin Truex Jr. and an eight-car pileup ensued.

"I felt a bomb explode in my right front tire," Vickers said. "I just went down into the tri-oval and it didn't cut or go flat - it exploded."

Truex heard the tire blow over the noise of his own engine - and 42 others - and described as being like "a shotgun blast."

Denny Hamlin took the worst hit while leading on lap 99 when his right front blew, sending the FedEx Toyota into the wall with little loss of speed. Hamlin was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. That scenario was exactly what Earnhardt Jr. had been dreading.

"That No. 11 car, I ain't never seen a car hit the wall that hard." he said.

The tire failure might have been beyond Goodyear's control. Second-place finisher Paul Menard reported no tire problems, and suggested that blown tires might have been caused by "fender rubs or aggressive camber."

New record for leaders

The 28 lap leaders in Sunday's race set an all-time record for most different leaders of a NASCAR race. The previous mark of 26 leaders was set July 27, 1986 at Talladega. That mark was tied on April 22, 2001, also at Talladega.

Streak intact

When Kevin Harvick was collected in Sunday's second big crash, it looked like his record streak of 72 races without a DNF (did not finish) was in jeopardy. But the urgency of collecting points, gave the Childress Racing crew all the more incentive to get Harvick back on track after the crash. He finished 20th, but the effort lifted Harvick to sixth in Cup points.