DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Late in Saturday night's Pepsi 400, the Big Wreck had been avoided for the most part. But in restrictor-plate racing, the Big Wreck is starting to look inevitable.

        Racing fast and tight, Dale Jarrett tried to block Jeff Burton from passing him and they came together. Burton's bump knocked Jarrett out of control - and the Big Wreck was on.

        Seconds later, the field was scattered across the track. The 14-car incident involved Jarrett, Burton, Mike Skinner, Steve Park, Brett Bodine, Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Matt Kenseth, Terry Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Rudd, Jimmie Johnson, Geoffrey Bodine and Kyle Petty.

        “I was just hoping to avoid the Big Wreck and sure enough it happened again,” said Park, involved in his second crash of the day.

        “It's just unfortunate,” Jarrett said. “We had a really good car. Maybe (the wreck is) my fault, I don't know. I was just trying to protect my position.”

        Jarrett thought he had a shot at a top-five finish and was running sixth after 120 laps. But as the race got closer to the conclusion, the cars bunched closer for late moves.

        “Just a lot of things are going to happen there. ... I thought we might have had a shot to run in the top five,” Jarrett said. “I don't know if we could have done anything with Michael (Waltrip) and Junior (Earnhardt) there.”

        Jarrett's night ended in strange fashion - walking back down the track with an ambulance showing up and following him.

        “(There) wasn't an ambulance that came until I walked halfway back here,” Jarrett said. “If an ambulance can't get there quicker than that, I'll just walk back.”

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