NASCAR officials are not considering changing the racing surface at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama after a spectacular last-lap accident that sent debris flying into the grandstands.
Vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said NASCAR will study several different safety standards, including the height of the fences surrounding the track. Carl Edwards' car sailed into the frontstrech fence, which bowed but held, before the battered vehicle returned to the track.
Debris from the crash injured seven fans. An eighth fan was treated for a medical condition.
NASCAR officials also said they might need to be stricter about aggressive driving and blocking, when one car deliberately moves into the path of a competing car trying to pass it, at races at Daytona and Talladega.
Horsepower-sapping restrictor plates are used at those two tracks -- NASCAR's two fastest -- to combat the high speeds. A square aluminum plate is installed in each car to limit an engine's power, slowing the car by reducing the amount of air that flows into the carburetor. As a result, the cars all run the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together. One wrong move by a driver can cause a massive accident.
There were three spectacular crashes Sunday: A 13-car wreck seven laps into the race; a 10-car accident with nine laps to go; and Edwards' airborne flight into the fence on the final lap.
That crash came about after Edwards' attempt to block Brad Keselowski's winning pass.
Keselowski pushed Edwards past Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the lead on the final lap. Then Keselowski peeked around Edwards as they closed on the finish line. Edwards ducked low to block the pass, but Keselowski was too close and couldn't avoid contact that sent Edwards into a spin up the track and into Newman's path.
Edwards' car flew over the top of Newman's hood, then shot into the frontstretch fence.
Former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier and Milka Duno have been added to the entry list for the May 24 race. Lazier, who won in 1996, joins Helio Castroneves, Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon as former winners who have entered. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway said Lazier will drive the No. 91 Hemelgarn Johnson entry in an attempt to make his 17th career Indianapolis 500 start.
Duno, who finished 19th last year, will try to qualify for the third time. She will join the Dreyer & Reinbold team, which has three drivers and three cars for the month of May. Duno joins full-time driver Darren Manning and John Andretti on the team. Dreyer & Reinbold and Richard Petty are teaming up for Andretti's entry.
Mike Skinner waited through two days and two weather delays to win the rain-shortened O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas. Skinner was in the lead when the race was postponed after 52 laps Saturday, lost the lead in the pits to defending champion Roy Hornaday Jr., then went back up front just before the second rain delay hit yesterday. Skinner was in the pits when the race was called after 132 laps -- 35 short of the finish -- for his 26th career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series. Johnny Benson finished second and Brian Scott was third. Hornaday ended up fourth.