2002 Aaron's 312 at Talladega

The 2002 Aaron's 312 at Talladega was a NASCAR Busch Series stock car race held on April 20, 2002, at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Johnny Sauter of Richard Childress Racing won the pole position, while Jason Keller of ppc Racing won the race. The race, however, was infamous for involving the largest accident in modern NASCAR history, which eliminated nearly three-quarters of the field early in the race.

2002 Aaron's 312 at Talladega

Race details
Race 8 of 34 of the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series season
Map of the Talladega Superspeedway
Date	April 20, 2002 (2002-04-20)
Official name	Aaron's 312 at Talladega
Location	Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.660 mi (4.280 km)
Distance	117 laps, 311.2 mi (500.83 km)
Average speed	157.691 mph (253.779 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Johnny Sauter	Richard Childress Racing
Time	50.730
Most laps led
Driver	Jason Keller	ppc Racing
Laps	51
Winner
No. 57	Jason Keller	ppc Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds

Report

Background

Because of a perceived aerodynamic advantage, several Chevrolet teams opted to run Pontiacs for the race.

Qualifying

Johnny Sauter qualified on pole position. Rick Markle was the only driver to not qualify.

Race

Sauter led the first eleven laps of the race, losing the lead on lap 12 to Stacy Compton. On lap 14, the largest crash in modern NASCAR history (1972–present) took place at the exit of turn two, with 31 cars being involved. Three cars (Stacy Compton, Jason Keller and Kenny Wallace) had cleared pole-sitter Johnny Sauter as the field started down the back-straightaway. Scott Riggs (fourth on the outside) tried to pass Wallace on the outside, but checked up, causing Shane Hmiel to get in the back of him. Subsequently, Kevin Grubb bumped Hmiel, causing both Riggs and Hmiel to turn sideways down the track and hit the right-rear of Sauter and the right-front of Joe Nemechek, respectively. The impact from Riggs' car caused Sauter's car to turn sideways and flip twice in the middle of the track, thus blocking the track and causing a massive pile-up behind. The drivers involved were Riggs, Hmiel, Sauter, Nemechek, Jack Sprague, Jeff Purvis, Jimmy Kitchens, Randy Lajoie, Kerry Earnhardt, Tony Raines, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ashton Lewis, Mike McLaughlin, Lyndon Amick, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Scott Wimmer, Ron Hornaday Jr., Shane Hall, Tim Sauter, Jay Sauter, Michael Waltrip, Joe Ruttman, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Wallace, Mike Harmon, Jeff Fuller, and Coy Gibbs. During the wreck, the two Joe Gibbs Racing cars in Mike McLaughlin and Coy Gibbs ended with McLaughlin's car on top of Gibbs' car due to Gibbs not being able to see through the smoke and all the cars that were crashing and ended up driving into and under the rear of McLaughlin. At the time of the crash, 41 of the 43 cars were on the track. Of those, only Compton, Keller, Wallace (who were in front of the crash), C. W. Smith, Hank Parker Jr., Casey Mears, Andy Kirby, Tim Fedewa, Larry Gunselman, and Chad Chaffin (all of whom either got slowed down in time to miss the crash or had lost the lead draft altogether and were elsewhere on the track) made it through without damage. This crash brought out a 40-minute red flag and caused one minor injury to Mike Harmon (required stitches for biting through his tongue). After the 40-minute delay to clean up, the race resumed on lap 20 with only seven cars on the lead lap. The remainder of the race featured two additional caution periods for debris: one from laps 76–80, and another from laps 93–95.

Kenny Wallace led from laps 16 to 23, with Compton taking the lead on lap 24; Compton would lead until lap 40, when Keller held the lead for a lap. On lap 42, Compton regained first, leading for 25 laps, surrendering the lead to Jeff Purvis on lap 67. The next lap, Keller retook first, leading for the remainder of the race. Only three cars – Keller, Compton, and Tim Fedewa – finished on the lead lap. Kenny Wallace (engine), C.W. Smith (overheating), Purvis (engine), Lewis (crash), Biffle (engine), McMurray, Wimmer, Hornaday, Johnny Sauter, Hall, Tim Sauter, Nemechek, Waltrip, Ruttman, Spencer, Mike Wallace, Harmon, Fuller, Gibbs (crash), Brad Teague (overheating) and Christian Elder (engine) failed to finish. The race featured a total of six leaders and seven lead changes.

The win was Keller's first career victory at a superspeedway, his seventh-career Busch win, and his second of the season. ppc Racing owners Greg Pollex and Keith Barnwell recorded their 26th and third wins, respectively.

Race results

Race results

Pos.	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	12	57	Jason Keller	ppc Racing	Ford	117	185
2	2	59	Stacy Compton	ST Motorsports	Chevrolet	117	175
3	32	07	Tim Fedewa	Biagi Brothers Racing	Pontiac	117	0
4	17	92	Todd Bodine	Herzog-Jackson Motorsports	Chevrolet	116	160
5	24	66	Casey Mears	Team Jesel	Dodge	116	155
6	39	49	Andy Kirby	Jay Robinson Racing	Ford	115	150
7	36	77	Jimmy Kitchens	Moy Racing	Ford	111	146
8	31	14	Larry Foyt	A. J. Foyt Racing	Chevrolet	110	142
9	20	48	Kenny Wallace	Innovative Motorsports	Pontiac	107	143
10	9	36	Hank Parker Jr.	Team Jesel	Dodge	106	134
11	38	54	Kevin Grubb	Team Bristol Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	130
12	40	16	Chad Chaffin	Day Enterprise Racing	Pontiac	106	127
13	6	24	Jack Sprague	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	80	124
14	35	67	C. W. Smith	Smith Brothers Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	121
15	11	37	Jeff Purvis	Brewco Motorsports	Pontiac	73	123
16	42	84	Larry Gunselman	Weber Racing	Chevrolet	66	115
17	15	7	Randy LaJoie	Evans Motorsports	Chevrolet	63	112
18	23	12	Kerry Earnhardt	FitzBradshaw Racing	Chevrolet	63	109
19	5	10	Scott Riggs	ppc Racing	Ford	59	106
20	14	33	Tony Raines	BACE Motorsports	Pontiac	55	103
21	16	47	Shane Hmiel	Innovative Motorsports	Pontiac	54	100
22	37	25	Bobby Hamilton Jr.	Team Rensi Motorsports	Ford	53	97
23	30	46	Ashton Lewis	Lewis Motorsports	Chevrolet	52	94
24	19	18	Mike McLaughlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	51	91
25	25	26	Lyndon Amick	Carroll Racing	Pontiac	50	88
26	7	60	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing	Ford	27	85
27	18	27	Jamie McMurray	Brewco Motorsports	Pontiac	25	82
28	34	23	Scott Wimmer	Bill Davis Racing	Pontiac	23	79
29	8	5	Ron Hornaday Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	23	76
30	4	21	Jay Sauter	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	20	73
31	33	63	Shane Hall	Ken Alexander Racing	Chevrolet	18	70
32	10	19	Tim Sauter	AP Performance Racing	Chevrolet	18	67
33	1	2	Johnny Sauter	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	14	69
34	3	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Pontiac	14	61
35	13	99	Michael Waltrip	Michael Waltrip Racing	Chevrolet	14	58
36	21	51	Joe Ruttman	Phoenix Racing	Pontiac	14	55
37	28	1	Jimmy Spencer	Phoenix Racing	Pontiac	14	52
38	27	4	Mike Wallace	Biagi Brothers Racing	Pontiac	14	49
39	41	44	Mike Harmon	Mixon Motorsports	Chevrolet	14	46
40	22	88	Jeff Fuller	NEMCO Motorsports	Pontiac	14	43
41	26	20	Coy Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	14	40
42	43	52	Brad Teague	Jimmy Means Racing	Ford	6	37
43	29	38	Christian Elder	Akins Motorsports	Ford	2	34
Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes
44	—	96	Rick Markle	Del Markle	Pontiac	—	—
WD	—	71	Kevin Lepage	—	Ford	—	—
Source:

Standings after the race

Jack Sprague (pictured in 1996) remained the points leader after the race.

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jack Sprague	1169
2	Jason Keller	1147
3	Randy LaJoie	1079
4	Kenny Wallace	1069
5	Scott Riggs	1068
6	Greg Biffle	1001
7	Bobby Hamilton Jr.	983
8	Stacy Compton	971
9	Mike McLaughlin	964
10	Scott Wimmer	919