One of the contenders throughout the Aaron's 499 has crashed 49 laps from the end.
Kyle Busch was turned by teammate Joey Logano exiting the second turn and slammed into Matt Kenseth before both cars hit the outside wall hard. A.J. Allmendinger also spun in the incident. Busch, who had led three laps but had been near the front all day, won yesterday's Nationwide race aftere being involved in a crash. The left front of his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was badly damaged in this incident, however. Kenseth's Ford is in the garage area.
The crash occured as Dave Blaney's No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Chevrolet, barely an afterthought in most races, led the pack. There have been 65 lead changes among 23 different leaders. The records, both set in the 2010 Aaron's 499, are 88 and 29, respectively.
Several drivers, including pole-sitter Jeff Gordon and teammate Mark Martin, have spent most of the race running near the rear of the field. The same self-preservation method got Gordon a win at the fall race in 2007.