"It was the wildest ride I've ever been on."
Those were the words of Joey Logano, who walked away unscathed after rolling his car seven times in a six-car accident early in Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Running behind Bobby Labonte and ahead of Tony Stewart—both former Joe Gibbs Racing drivers—Logano was the victim of close-quarters racing on Lap 32, one lap after the race restarted following a competition caution.
His No. 20 Toyota was demolished by the time it finally came to stop after tumbling down the Monster Mile's concrete banking, but other than some shakiness, Logano said he was fine.
"It just really scared the heck out of me," Logano said. "The biggest thing was, I was fine the whole time, [but] I'm not really sure what happened. The spotter was clearing me low. When I got down there, they checked up going into the corner and I got tagged from behind. I haven't seen a replay, and I'm not sure I want to see the replay.
"It started rolling, and I was in there, thinking, 'Man, just make this thing stop.' It wouldn't. It just kept going and going. It goes to show how safe these cars are. I was fine."
Heading into Turn 3, Labonte came down the track, forcing Logano to check up. An unintentional bump from Stewart sent the No. 20 Toyota sliding through the grass apron, then back up the banking, where Logano's car was hit first by Reed Sorenson.
"By the time I got to Joey, everything was pretty much out of our hands at that point," Sorenson said. "[Martin Truex Jr.] was pushing me into [Logano], pretty much, and I was trying to slow down as much as I could.
"It looked like the No. 96 [Labonte] got checked up somehow and the No. 20 checked up and I saw the No. 14 [Stewart] get into the No. 20. He was on the brakes pretty hard. I tried to go to the outside of him and tried to get around the wreck, and [Logano] came right back up the track in front of us."
Sorenson said he was glad to see Logano responding in the infield care center afterward.
"It was a pretty wild wreck," Sorenson said. "It's not something you can plan for, and you can't miss those kind of wrecks. It just kind of happened right in front of us. Joey's OK, I talked with him and I'm glad he's all right. He's just shaken up.
"It's one of those deals. It's a fast race track and as close as we're running out here, as soon as one person checks up, it's a chain reaction that can cause a little pileup."
Light is normally faster than sound, but for Truex, he heard the accident before he saw it unfold.
"I just heard the spotter yelling that they were spinning out," Truex said. "I was hoping they would be gone by the time I got there, and they weren't. You just can't slow down here. You go off in the corners so fast and they were wrecking right there before the middle of the corner.
"… It's just one of those things here when you're in the back of the pack. It happens on restarts."
Robby Gordon also was an eyewitness, as he wound up with radiator damage after piling into the aftermath.
"I saw [Logano] down on the bottom and he just shot across the track," Gordon said. "He must have gotten pushed to the bottom or something happened going into [Turn] 3. I went to the high side, trying to slow down, and unfortunately we got caught up in it.
It took NASCAR safety crews more than 23 minutes to clear the debris. During that time, Stewart was remorseful on his in-car radio.
"I hit him square and I checked up, but there was nothing I could do," Stewart said.While making the walk from the care center to the garage area with his father, Logano was able to give fans a wan smile, as he continued to describe his wild ride.
"You can't go on a roller coaster any worse than that," Logano said.sourceYahoo
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