Bizarre Happenings IN Sam’s Town 300 Nationwide Series Race

I must admit that the Sam’s Town 300 Nationwide race yesterday, was one of the strangest I have seen in a while.

Here is Kevin Harvick, Scott Speed, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch leading the way in the beginning of the Sam’s Town 300. All four cars ended up in the garage.

The craziness began on lap nine when Denny Hamlin spun out all by himself. After that it seemed all hell broke loose for the front-runners.

Not long after Hamlin’s spin, Kyle Busch spun out racing Kevin Harvick for the lead. Busch’s spin ended up taking out pole sitter, Scott Speed.

Denny Hamlin spinning out a few laps later.

Not only did we see Sprint Cup drivers spinning out unassisted, but there was also a confuggled mess of pit road mistakes by just about everyone that led or contended for the lead. It almost appeared that leading the race was a hex.

Biffle ran out of gas as the leader, which put Hamlin out front. Then Hamlin was too fast exiting pit road, had to return for a pass-through penalty, and was too fast again.

Kyle Busch spins and collects Scott Speed.

Hamlin’s mistake gave Vickers the lead, but he coughed it up when he left his pit stop with a missing lug nut.

Brendan Gaughan inherited the lead, then he spun trying to enter pit road to give David Ragan the lead. Edwards, who had rallied to third from an earlier punctured tire, was penalized for driving too fast off pit road. But as he tried to argue his penalty, Ragan wrecked on the track to take NASCAR’s attention.

Harvick’s car sits mangled in the garage after an altercation with teammate Jeff Burton. 

Justin Allgaier, who had stayed out of trouble to put himself in position to make a late challenge for the lead, then scuffed the wall while running in the top 10.

Finally, when it all got sorted out, Greg Biffle was the leader and eventual winner.

There was so much wrecking and pit mishaps at one time, that the ESPN2 broadcast announcers were having a difficult time keeping up with it all.

If the Nationwide race is any indication of how the Sprint Cup race will be, it might prove to be a very interesting race. It would be good to see after the California boredom last week.