Multiple shunt disrupts 500 plans

Bobby Hamilton's Chevrolet came off worst, the impact with the other cars and the wall destroying the Monte Carlo. Also involved were Jeff Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Tony Stewart, and Todd Bodine. All drivers were uninjured.

"Things happened so fast that it's hard to tell, but it looked like the 11 car [Bodine] picked up a really bad push or something and got in the wall, and then got in the 55 [Hamilton] car," said Burton. "Everybody was just trying to miss the wreck at that point. Most of the mayhem was caused after the wreck actually happened."

Stewart said: "When it happened, it was like - boom! He [Burton] was spinning, there were other cars spinning and I had to turn to get away from it. All he had to do was clip me a little bit and it would have been a whole lot worse."

Hamilton will have to use a back-up car for his Gatorade 125 qualifying heat on Thursday and the 500 on Sunday.

Burton's Ford sustained rear-end damage, but is repairable, as are Spencer's Dodge and Stewart's Pontiac, which has front-end damage from hitting Burton's car. Bodine's Ford is too badly damaged to repair in time for Thursday's race.

Mark Martin gave Ford's Daytona 500 hopes a massive boost by recording the fastest time of the day in his Taurus, benefiting from the smaller rear spoiler NASCAR has allowed them to run this weekend.


1, Mark Martin, Ford, 47.933s, 187.757mph
2, Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 47.986s, 187.554mph
3, Rusty Wallace, Ford, 48.001s, 187.492mph
4, Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 48.022s, 187.410mph
5, Jeff Burton, Ford, 48.035s, 187.358mph
6, Dale Jarrett, Ford, 48.046s, 187.320mph
7, Elliott Sadler, Ford, 48.051s, 187.296mph
8, John Andretti, Dodge, 48.053s, 187.292mph
9, Jerry Nadeau, Chevrolet, 48.055s, 187.281mph
10, Greg Biffle, Ford, 48.062s, 187.257mph