Wreck takes out Daytona fence again

Once again a wreck takes down the Daytona catchfence

Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

Rookie Parker Kligerman went for a long slide on his roof after the front end of his No. 30 car got on top of the outside wall and into the catchfence as part of a crash that claimed several vehicles in opening Sprint Cup Series practice Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway.

The accident appeared to begin when Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth made contact in tight drafting practice, causing a number of vehicles to go sideways. Kligerman got the worst of it, riding up and over the car of Paul Menard, and then getting pushed from behind by the vehicle of Ryan Truex. The front end of the No. 30 car slid along the top of the wall and grinded against the catchfence, causing some damage to the mesh fencing. With Truex still behind him, Kligerman rolled over and slid on his roof before being extricated from the car.

Fortunately, no drivers were hurt in the accident, and no spectators were impacted by the damage to the catchfence.

"I guess that was the first time I've ever flipped over. Never done that before in a race car," said Kligerman. "I assumed it would be rougher, but it was actually really soft. I saw the whole thing go down. I'm up in the fence kind of floating along. Thankfully none of the fans got injured …. Obviously, it was a scary situation when a car gets that close to the fence. Then it just flipped over softly, and I slid on the roof. I guess the strongest thing going through me at that time was anger over the wreck. Most importantly is the fans are okay and I'm OK."

Logano's wrecked race car

Getty Images for NASCAR

A number of drivers were involved in the incident, among them Logano, Kenseth, Truex, Kligerman, Menard, former Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne, and veteran Dave Blaney. The accident came shortly after an earlier accident involving Cole Whitt, Casey Mears and Brian Vickers, which proved just a prelude to the bigger one to come. According to NASCAR, six teams planned to move to backup cars.

"Turns out Joey was bump drafting the 20 (car of Kenseth) in the middle of the pack when we were trying to getup to speed," Menard said. "I guess that’s the end result."

Kligerman said he was about to pull off the track and park his car for the remainder of the session. His Swan Racing team planned to try and repair Whitt’s primary and put Kligerman into a backup.

"I thought we were good. We were going to quit for the day, probably, pack it up and wait until tonight," Kligerman said. "I guess from what I can see, the 22 (car of Logano) was just being overly aggressive. It's a shame. He's supposed to be a veteran. You go up here to the Sprint Cup Series, and it's supposed to be the best of the best, and you've got a guy in practice who wants to race people like that like it's the end of the Daytona 500. … I don't quite understand that one. I'll have to talk to him about how all that went down."

The accident unfolded as the cars rolled off Turn 4 and into the tri-oval. "I guess that’s when the 22 car got close to me, got right on me," Kenseth said. "I moved my car to the left a little bit, and we had plenty of room for everybody, and then he kind of clipped my right rear and that seemed to trigger it. He had to slow down after that, so that seemed to trigger the wreck. Looked like it, anyway."

Logano said Kenseth made a move as if he were headed down the race track. "I had the run, so I was going to fill that hole and then he started to come back up, and I was there," Logano said. "Maybe I shouldn't have been racing as hard as I was in practice, but everybody was in a big pack there trying to make things happen. As soon as he came back up, I checked up a little bit, and then the 21 (car of Bayne) hit me from behind and we spun out. It happens. That's Daytona for you."

Those drivers bound for backups — which according to NASCAR included Logano, Kligerman, Menard, Truex, and Blaney from the second incident, and Vickers from the first — will have to start at the rear of Thursday's two 150-mile Budweiser Duel qualifying races. Menard, who led one of Saturday's practice sessions and had had one of the faster cars of these Speedweeks, is now bound for a backup.

"We had a really fast Chevrolet, all the RCR cars were extremely fast. Our backup car is pretty good, too," he said. "It comes out of the same shop, obviously. It's not as good as our primary because it's our backup. Sometimes a slower car drives a little better too, so we'll see. I have no reservations about the 150. We'll try to race our hardest and get the best starting position we can."

Richard Childress, who owns Menard's car, could only shake his head. "These guys have just been cooped up all winter, and they're going at it real hard. I don't know what they were doing there," he said. "It's a shame to keep tearing these cars up. It's going to be a week like that. They get a little more run with this little bit more spoiler, and I think some of them are struggling."

Bayne received only nose damage, and Wood Brothers Racing planned to repair his primary vehicle. "The problem is the closing rate is so fast, that if you try to move you have to be so decisive here," he said. "If you commit to a lane, even if it’s going to send you backward, you almost have to stay there because if you try to switch back and forth a couple of times, it isn’t good. It teaches me something for these Duels — to get in a lane, stay there and ride it out."