NASCAR officials defend race decision

While Regan Smith voiced displeasure yesterday after being stripped of an apparent victory in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR officials sided with eventual winner Tony Stewart.

Jim Hunter, vice president of corporate communications, said Smith's pass on the final lap wasn't allowed because "you cannot improve your position any time you go below the yellow line."

Said Smith: "My judgment and NASCAR's are totally different."

Hunter said Smith improved his position by passing below the yellow line. Smith was issued a pass-through penalty and moved back to the tail end of the longest line, or 18th position.

Still, Smith insisted Stewart's attempt to block him forced him to race below the yellow line.

"We do not feel he was forced below the yellow line," Hunter said. " . . . We respect Regan's view, but we made the call, we think it's the right call and the finish is final."

Drivers frustrated with blown tires

Both Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers were vying for the checkered flag yesterday before experiencing tire problems at Talladega Superspeedway.

Hamlin was leading on Lap 98 when his front right tire blew. Vickers was running fourth when his right rear was punctured, causing a nine-car crash on Lap 69.

"It [tire] didn't go flat," said Vickers, one of several drivers to have tire trouble. "It exploded."

Hamlin's tire was so disfigured that Goodyear officials said it was virtually impossible to determine what happened. But Rick Heinrich, product manager for Goodyear, said some of the tire problems could been caused by constant bump-drafting.

"I think the guys with flat tires were being pushed," said Paul Menard, who finished a career-best second.

Heinrich said the damaged tires will be sent to the manufacturer's headquarters in Akron, Ohio for evaluation.

"We're looking at what materials have come off the racetrack and parts that have come off the car," Heinrich said. "We're trying to find some correlation between the damaged tires.

"Something influenced the tires. We had good [track] conditions for the tire. These are the same tires we used here in the spring race [in April], and we didn't have any obvious problems."

Close, but no cigar for Sadler

Emporia native Elliott Sadler has put together back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time this season. He challenged Tony Stewart for the lead with 10 laps to go before settling for a 10th-place finish.

"We brought a new car here and it handled good," said Sadler, who was 10th in Kansas last weekend. "We have to do some more work before we get to Daytona next year."

Follow the leaders

A NASCAR-record 28 different drivers led at least one lap. There were 64 lead changes. Tony Stewart led a race-high 24 laps. Virginians Denny Hamlin (9), Elliott Sadler (4) and Jeff Burton (8) all held the lead. -- Ralph N. Paulk