On the second lap of the race, Johnson got hit from behind by Elliott Sadler, sending Johnson’s car slamming into the frontstretch wall. Johnson was then hit in the drivers-side door by David Ragan.
Patrick’s car was hit in the right rear by Johnson, and then spun into the Turn 1 grass, where she barely avoided the wrecked cars of Ragan and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne.
Kurt Busch also was involved in the crash.
Johnson’s car was destroyed while Patrick, Busch, Ragan and Bayne also took their cars to the garage. Patrick’s crew was frantically making repairs, trying to get her back into the race.
Sadler, a Nationwide Series driver competing in the 500 in a one-race deal for Richard Childress Racing, radioed an apology to Johnson for causing the crash.
“We were all trying to make our lane work and there was a lot of energy in that lane,” Johnson said. “I could feel some help from behind and it turned me around.”
“That’s a shame for somebody to cause a wreck that early in the biggest race of the race,” Ragan said. “I can’t wait to see who was the bonehead.”
Kyle Busch said over his team radio: “Seriously, are we all kidding ourselves. We just sat around for 36 hours and we wreck on lap 1.”
The race was originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, but was washed out and rescheduled for noon on Monday. When the rain continued throughout the night and Monday morning, it was rescheduled again for 7 p.m ET Monday night.
NASCAR officials worked all afternoon Monday to keep the track dry through intermittent showers.
Finally, with the skies clear and the forecast improving, engines fired at 7:02 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 7:05. The 43-car field took the green flag at 7:14.
Despite the delays, a large crowd returned for the first night-time start of the Daytona 500. The frontstretch grandstands were practically full with only a few empty sections on the backstretch.
The race went back to green on lap 8, but it didn’t last long as Ryan Newman spun in Turn 2 on lap 13. While Newman was on pit road for repairs, AJ Allmendinger hit him in the rear, also damaging his car.
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2012-02-27/wreck-on-lap-2-takes-out-johnson-patrick-three-others?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D138976#ixzz1ndTiJOQR
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