2008 Aaron's 312

The 2008 Aaron's 312 was a NASCAR Nationwide Series race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, on April 26, 2008. The race was the 17th iteration of the event. Tony Stewart dominated the race. Stewart won the pole, led the most laps, and won the race, his first career victory at Talladega. But the race was mostly remembered by two crashes. One being a crash by Dario Franchitti that left him with a fractured ankle. And the second one being the most infamous one when Kevin Lepage pulled up right in front of the field going about slower after coming off pit road and causing the big one while he did not take responsibility for his mistake, an incident later nicknamed as "Lepaging the field".

Background

Talladega Superspeedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway. The standard track layout is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at thirty-three degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 16.5 degrees. The back stretch has a two-degree banking. Talladega Superspeedway can seat up to 143,231 people.

Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver #DriverTeamMake 0 Dwayne Leik JD Motorsports Chevrolet 01 Kertus Davis JD Motorsports Chevrolet 1 Mike Bliss Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 2 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Robert Richardson Jr. Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet 05 Brett Rowe Day Enterprise Racing Chevrolet 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. JR Motorsports Chevrolet 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Mike Wallace Germain Racing Toyota 9 Patrick Carpentier Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 11 Jason Keller CJM Racing Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Stephen Leicht Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22 Reed Sorenson Fitz Motorsports Dodge 24 Eric McClure Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Team Rensi Motorsports Ford 27 Brad Coleman Baker Curb Racing Ford 28 Kenny Wallace Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet 29 Scott Wimmer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Denny Hamlin Braun Racing Toyota 33 Cale Gale (R) Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet 38 Jason Leffler Braun Racing Toyota 40 Dario Franchitti (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 41 Kyle Krisiloff Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 47 Kelly Bires JTG Daugherty Racing Ford 52 Donnie Neuenberger Means Racing Chevrolet 57 Justin Ashburn Beahr Racing Enterprises Dodge 59 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Ford 60 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 61 Kevin Lepage Specialty Racing Ford 64 David Stremme Rusty Wallace Racing Chevrolet 66 Steve Wallace Rusty Wallace Racing Chevrolet 70 Mark Green ML Motorsports Chevrolet 75 Johnny Sauter Bob Schacht Motorsports Chevrolet 81 D. J. Kennington MacDonald Motorsports Dodge 84 Mike Harmon Elite 2 Racing Chevrolet 88 Brad Keselowski JR Motorsports Chevrolet 89 Morgan Shepherd Faith Motorsports Dodge 90 Johnny Chapman MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet 91 Larry Gunselman MSRP Motorsports Ford 99 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing ToyotaOfficial Entry List

Qualifying Tony Stewart won the pole with a time of 51.676 and a speed of 185.308 mph. Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed 1 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.676 185.308 2 1 Mike Bliss Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 51.745 185.061 3 38 Jason Leffler Braun Racing Toyota 51.768 184.979 4 40 Dario Franchitti (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 51.809 184.833 5 88 Brad Keselowski JR Motorsports Chevrolet 51.917 184.448 6 2 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 51.944 184.352 7 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. JR Motorsports Chevrolet 51.958 184.303 8 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.969 184.264 9 33 Cale Gale (R) Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet 51.984 184.211 10 32 Denny Hamlin Braun Racing Toyota 51.984 184.211 11 60 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 52.002 184.147 12 9 Patrick Carpentier Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 52.086 183.850 13 21 Stephen Leicht Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 52.150 183.624 14 41 Kyle Krisiloff Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 52.237 183.318 15 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 52.242 183.301 16 27 Brad Coleman Baker Curb Racing Ford 52.246 183.287 17 81 D. J. Kennington MacDonald Motorsports Dodge 52.258 183.245 18 47 Kelly Bires JTG Daugherty Racing Ford 52.266 183.217 19 29 Scott Wimmer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 52.322 183.021 20 7 Mike Wallace Germain Racing Toyota 52.333 182.982 21 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 52.442 182.602 22 75 Johnny Sauter* Bob Schacht Motorsports Chevrolet 52.452 182.567 23 01 Kertus Davis JD Motorsports Chevrolet 52.455 182.556 24 64 David Stremme Rusty Wallace Racing Chevrolet 52.552 182.220 25 66 Steve Wallace Rusty Wallace Racing Chevrolet 52.612 182.012 26 70 Mark Green ML Motorsports Chevrolet 52.694 181.728 27 99 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 52.732 181.598 28 28 Kenny Wallace Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet 52.762 181.494 29 24 Eric McClure Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 52.795 181.381 30 59 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Ford 52.818 181.302 31 0 Dwayne Leik JD Motorsports Chevrolet 52.824 181.281 32 22 Reed Sorenson Fitz Motorsports Dodge 52.828 181.268 33 89 Morgan Shepherd Faith Motorsports Dodge 52.938 180.891 34 91 Larry Gunselman MSRP Motorsports Ford 52.950 180.850 35 11 Jason Keller CJM Racing Chevrolet 52.954 180.836 36 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Team Rensi Motorsports Ford 52.960 180.816 37 4 Robert Richardson Jr. Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet 53.081 180.404 38 61 Kevin Lepage Specialty Racing Ford 53.157 180.146 39 52 Donnie Neuenberger Means Racing Chevrolet 53.312 179.622 40 05 Brett Rowe Day Enterprise Racing Chevrolet 53.371 179.423 41 90 Johnny Chapman MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet 53.560 178.790 42 57 Justin Ashburn Beahr Racing Enterprises Dodge 54.732 174.962 43 84 Mike Harmon* Elite 2 Racing Chevrolet — —Official Starting grid

* - Johnny Sauter and Mike Harmon both had to start at the rear of the field due to missing the drivers meeting.

Race Pole sitter Tony Stewart led the first lap of the race. On lap 7, Brad Keselowski took the lead from Stewart. On lap 10, Stephen Leicht took the lead from Keselowski for a moment before Keselowski immeadietly took it back. On lap 11, the first caution flew for a hard four car crash in turn 3. Dario Franchitti was running in the midst of the top 10 when his right rear tire went flat going into turn 3. Franchitti spun in turn 3 while Clint Bowyer hit the outside wall trying to avoid Franchitti but ended up making contact with David Ragan sending Bowyer into the outside wall and Johnny Sauter spun trying to avoid Franchitti. Franchitti's car backed into the outside wall and spun back down across the track where he was t-boned in the driver's side at over 100 mph by Larry Gunselman. Franchitti climbed out and had to be helped over to a stretcher near an ambulance. Both Franchitti and Gunselman were taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluation. Gunselman was fine but Franchitti had suffered a minor fracture in his left ankle. Franchitti was scheduled to drive in the Cup Series race the following day but was unable to and was replaced by David Stremme. Franchitti would be able to return to racing about a month later in the Nationwide Series race at Dover. Brad Keselowski led the field to the restart on lap 17. On lap 18, Jason Leffler took the lead. On lap 19, Keselowski tried to take the lead from Leffler and led that lap before the second caution flew on lap 20 when Scott Wimmer blew a right front tire in turn 1 and hit the outside wall. Leffler was in the lead when the caution flew and he led the field to the restart on lap 25. On lap 26, Tony Stewart took the lead from Leffler. On lap 40, Brad Coleman took the lead from Stewart with a push from Denny Hamlin. But on the next lap, Stewart would take the lead back. On lap 43, the third caution flew when Eric McClure spun on the frontstretch off of turn 4. Tony Stewart won the race off of pit road and he led the field to the restart on lap 47. On lap 50, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead with a push from Reed Sorenson. On lap 63, the fourth caution flew when David Ragan spun on the backstretch after contact with Reed Sorenson.

The Big One Tony Stewart was first off pit road and led the field to the restart with 51 laps left. With 47 laps to go, a major crash happened in turn 1; Kevin Lepage had just made a pit stop and rejoined the track as the pack was speeding through the tri-oval. Instead of staying below the yellow line until he reached a safe speed, Lepage merged directly onto the track in front of more than 20 cars going nearly 190 miles per hour. A few drivers were able to avoid him, but others couldn't; Mike Wallace swerved at the last moment to miss Lepage and ended up turning David Reutimann. Carl Edwards, who was behind Wallace, hit the back of Lepage's car head-on, causing Edwards' car to bounce and destroy the rear of Lepage's car, triggering the massive wreck. A total of 16 cars were involved, including Mike Wallace, Patrick Carpentier, Jason Keller, Kyle Busch, Stephen Leicht, Reed Sorenson, Kenny Wallace, Cale Gale, Kyle Krisiloff, Kelly Bires, Marcos Ambrose, Carl Edwards, Kevin Lepage, Steve Wallace, Brad Keselowski, and David Reutimann. The red flag stopped the race for about 25 minutes. At first, Lepage blamed the spotters of the other cars, saying they should have seen him coming onto the track. He said, "If they couldn't see me coming out of the pits with this red and yellow race car, then maybe they need to get new spotters." Two days later, Lepage apologized and accepted full responsibility for causing the crash.

Final laps Tony Stewart won the race off of pit road and he led the field to the restart with 43 laps to go. With 29 to go, the 6th caution flew for a three car crash in turn 1. It started when D. J. Kennington got loose and spun and collected Brett Rowe and Brad Coleman. Stewart led the field to the restart with 24 to go. With 19 to go, the 7th caution flew for debris. The race restarted with 15 laps to go. With 13 to go, Mike Wallace attempted to take the lead from Stewart but was unable to make it stick. Stewart held off the pack but the 8th and final caution would fly with just 5 laps to go for debris. The wreck would set up a two lap shootout. On the final lap, Stewart got far ahead of the pack but the pack would quickly catch him and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would get to Stewart's outside on the backstretch. But Junior couldn't make it stick and Tony Stewart would hold off the pack and win the race. The win would be Stewart's first at Talladega in his career. David Stremme, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Jason Leffler, and Mark Green would round out the top 5 while Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Bliss, Patrick Carpentier, Scott Wimmer, and Mike Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Race results