NASCAR.com
JOLIET, Ill. -- Tony Stewart's weekend got off to a grinding start as he slammed the outside wall early in practice Friday for the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Stewart hit the SAFER barrier with the left side of his car after spinning in Turn 4. Rescue workers got to Stewart, and he crawled out under his own power. He was seen and released at the infield care center.
"I'm fine," Stewart said. "Disappointed, but fine."
Stewart said he ran over some oil in the turn, likely from Hermie Sadler's car. The practice had been halted twice before Stewart's crash, once for oil and once for debris.
"I went right into (Turn) 3 right when they said the 02 car had blown up," Stewart said. "But by the time my spotter said the red and black (flags) were out, I was already spinning. There was nothing you could do. It was nobody's fault. It's just that those things happen."
The accident marked the first time in the team's five-plus years in the sport that it had to go to a backup because of a crash in practice. The No. 20 team used a backup at Texas last year after the primary car was impounded, but Stewart had never crashed hard enough in practice to force the primary car to be withdrawn.
Most of the damage to Stewart's car was limited to the left side, as the left-rear and left-front corners were pushed in. Before the car was carried in on a flatbed back to the garage, Stewart's team had the backup car going through technical inspection.
Stewart eventually came back to the garage, helmet and Hutchens device in hand.
Joe Gibbs Racing crewmen pulled an engine off teammate Bobby Labonte's hauler, replacing the carburetor and manifold with the ones used on the wrecked engine. After the backup car got a few laps in practice, crewmen later swapped engines, too.
The backup car, chassis No. 83, won the pole at Chicago last year. The car also won at Pocono in 2003. It has been run once this season, finishing 27th at Pocono after the car had transmission trouble.
Stewart is fourth in the Nextel Cup points standings, 317 out of the lead and 85 behind third-place Jeff Gordon.
