W
Ward Burton
Guest
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Sirius 400 pole-winner Bobby Labonte paced Saturday's Happy Hour practice session at Michigan International Speedway, which included a spectacular Turn 2 crash for veteran Brett Bodine.
The accident occurred some 30 minutes into the session. According to Bodine's crew chief, the right front tire blew, sending Bodine hard into the Turn 1 wall.
The car continued down the banking at high speed, slamming head-on into a tire barrier on the inside of Turn 2. The impact lifted the car off the ground right in front of Bodine's younger brother, Todd.
Todd immediately stopped, hopped out and ran over to his older brother's aid, helping him out of the car and joining a track safety worker in carrying Brett to the ambulance.
Brett Bodine was examined in the infield care center, and then transported by ground to a local hospital for further evaluation. He was wearing the HANS device in the accident.
"He was alert and moving around and everything," said his crew chief, Mike Hillman. "Todd stopped and talked to him and told me that he was okay. But he took a pretty hard hit.
"So hopefully there's no broken bones or anything seriously wrong. They said he was doing fine. He knew who Todd was, so that's a good sign. I think it cut down a right front tire."
Hillman said the team runs a safety switch on the car's throttle, and was perplexed why the car continued into the barrier at speed.
"We have (a safety switch), so we shouldn't have been in that situation," Hillman said. "Just a bad deal and we'll have to get over it."
Hillman said the team, which loses backing from sponsor Hooters following Sunday's race at MIS, did bring a backup car that was run earlier this year. Bodine was 14th quick in practice at the time of the wreck.
"I'm really glad he was talking and moving. We can always build new racecars and we'll survive this," Hillman said. "I'm glad they put those tires down by the inside wall there, that really helped a bunch.
"They're working really hard at this soft-wall issue and the safety we've incorporated in these cars in the past few years is immense.
"That's a tribute to the safety NASCAR wants to see and what we want to see for our drivers. It makes it a lot easier to walk out of these infield medical centers."
As for Labonte, he continued his weekend-long domination with a 39.455-second lap around the two-mile oval at 182.486 mph.
That was nearly two-tenths of a second quicker than the second quickest car driven by Ricky Craven (39.626).
Jeremy Mayfield ranked third in Happy Hour, followed by Ryan Newman and outside pole-sitter Tony Stewart, who posted the day's fastest lap in the morning session at 38.749 seconds and 185.811 mph.
Newman was second-fastest in the morning, followed by Kurt Busch, Labonte and Terry Labonte in the top-five.
Third-place qualifier Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 11th in Happy Hour, while defending race champion Matt Kenseth was 24th. Dale Jarrett, the last NASCAR driver to win at Michigan, was 34th.
The accident occurred some 30 minutes into the session. According to Bodine's crew chief, the right front tire blew, sending Bodine hard into the Turn 1 wall.
The car continued down the banking at high speed, slamming head-on into a tire barrier on the inside of Turn 2. The impact lifted the car off the ground right in front of Bodine's younger brother, Todd.
Todd immediately stopped, hopped out and ran over to his older brother's aid, helping him out of the car and joining a track safety worker in carrying Brett to the ambulance.
Brett Bodine was examined in the infield care center, and then transported by ground to a local hospital for further evaluation. He was wearing the HANS device in the accident.
"He was alert and moving around and everything," said his crew chief, Mike Hillman. "Todd stopped and talked to him and told me that he was okay. But he took a pretty hard hit.
"So hopefully there's no broken bones or anything seriously wrong. They said he was doing fine. He knew who Todd was, so that's a good sign. I think it cut down a right front tire."
Hillman said the team runs a safety switch on the car's throttle, and was perplexed why the car continued into the barrier at speed.
"We have (a safety switch), so we shouldn't have been in that situation," Hillman said. "Just a bad deal and we'll have to get over it."
Hillman said the team, which loses backing from sponsor Hooters following Sunday's race at MIS, did bring a backup car that was run earlier this year. Bodine was 14th quick in practice at the time of the wreck.
"I'm really glad he was talking and moving. We can always build new racecars and we'll survive this," Hillman said. "I'm glad they put those tires down by the inside wall there, that really helped a bunch.
"They're working really hard at this soft-wall issue and the safety we've incorporated in these cars in the past few years is immense.
"That's a tribute to the safety NASCAR wants to see and what we want to see for our drivers. It makes it a lot easier to walk out of these infield medical centers."
As for Labonte, he continued his weekend-long domination with a 39.455-second lap around the two-mile oval at 182.486 mph.
That was nearly two-tenths of a second quicker than the second quickest car driven by Ricky Craven (39.626).
Jeremy Mayfield ranked third in Happy Hour, followed by Ryan Newman and outside pole-sitter Tony Stewart, who posted the day's fastest lap in the morning session at 38.749 seconds and 185.811 mph.
Newman was second-fastest in the morning, followed by Kurt Busch, Labonte and Terry Labonte in the top-five.
Third-place qualifier Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 11th in Happy Hour, while defending race champion Matt Kenseth was 24th. Dale Jarrett, the last NASCAR driver to win at Michigan, was 34th.
