Drivers want aero fix after 'big one'

The 'big one' happened as the tightly-bunched pack jostled for position on the final lap. No driver was seriously hurt in the crash, but Bobby Labonte's Pontiac ended up upside down and on fire.

Engine restrictor plates, roof slats and high rear spoilers are used to keep speeds below 200mph at the Talladega and Daytona tri-ovals, but the rules mean cars stay bunched in close drafting packs. As a result, small errors can lead to devastating consequences. At February's Daytona 500, the race was red-flagged after a mid-race 20-car shunt.

A recent 22-car test at Talladega to try revised packages received a thumbs-up from many drivers, but NASCAR decided to keep to its existing rules for the fourth and final superspeedway race of the season.

Dodge driver Sterling Marlin said: "It ain't the drivers; it's NASCAR. You run it all day, you're going to wreck. Every driver has been telling them in the NASCAR trailer that it's going to happen. They wanted it to happen. Somebody hit somebody.

"They had it fixed if they had done the rules they tried down here in the test. Eighty percent of us wanted it and 20 percent didn't, so they went with the 20 percent. I guess they wanted to see us wreck."

Asked what could have prevented the crash, Labonte added: "A large rainstorm, an earthquake - who knows? No, not really. It's just part of it. You ride around for a long time and wait until the end. The grandstands are full and everybody is OK, so I guess it's OK."

"We don't like this anymore than our drivers do," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president of Corporate Communications. "Thus far, we have been unable to come up with a solution, but we are going to figure this out and we will figure it out before Daytona next year. And the teams will help us figure it out. I don't have any details, but I can assure you we will figure this out so that we're not faced with this type of racing in Daytona."