Don’t stand on the tracks when a train is coming through. That’s the tough lesson NASCAR veteran Kevin Lepage learned in last week’s Nationwide race at Talladega when he exited pit road and inexplicably entered the racing groove in front of a 40-car pack.
The ensuing “big one” looked like a crash out of a NASCAR racing video game when Carl Edwards plowed into the rear of Lepage. I, like anyone watching at home, could only watch in disbelief as it unfolded. “That’s a bonehead move,” as Ned Jarrett would say in NASCAR Racing 2.
As dumb as that was, Lepage took stupidity to a whole other level when he refused to take the blame. It’s sometimes difficult to see which driver is at fault when a bump here or nudge there can cause a chain-reaction crash at Talladega. But this was a no-brainer. Lepage, going half the speed of the rest of the pack, tried to get back in the draft!
But this story has a happy ending… somewhat. No one was seriously injured and Lepage finally accepted responsibility this week when he said he “made a huge driver error by blending onto the race track in the wrong area.”
“I'm so thankful that no one was hurt considering the number of cars involved,” he told the Associated Press.
Race cars are incredibly difficult to handle, so mistakes are a part of the sport. But I’m hoping we don’t see something as scary as that for a while. So, please Kevin, stay off the track when a freight train of cars are coming through.
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