Some of the damage inflicted on Mark Martin's No. 6 Ford after a violent crash Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Martin, Yeley share blame for violent wreck

Veteran says he should've seen wave, but Yeley was in bad spot

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- As simple as it sounds, a lighter-colored racing glove might have made the all the difference in Mark Martin's title run.

Mark Martin did not see J.J. Yeley entering the pits on Lap 240 of the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week, and further inspection reveals the strange circumstances that can alter races, championship battles -- even careers.

Mark Martin took part of the blame for Saturday's wreck. Credit: Autostock

Chase Standings After Lowe's Motor Speedway (5th of 10 races) Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. -- Jeff Burton Leader 2. -- Matt Kenseth -45 3. +1 Kevin Harvick -89 4. -1 Mark Martin -102 5. +1 D. Earnhardt Jr. -106 6. -1 Denny Hamlin -137 7. +1 Jimmie Johnson -146 8. +1 Kasey Kahne -160 9. +1 Kyle Busch -195 10. -3 Jeff Gordon -216 • Complete standings, click here Breathtaking hitYeley sends Martin hard into the wall at Lowe's Race RewindWatch a condensed version of last Saturday's race Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 SUPERSTORE •   2006 Chase driver hats!

As J.J. Yeley learned last Saturday night, hitting Mark Martin is like hitting a cop, especially when Martin was hurled into a SAFER barrier at 170 mph.

Simply put, no one wins.

The crash sent Martin to a 30th-place finish and severely damaged his hopes for a Nextel Cup title. Martin comes to Martinsville 102 points behind leader Jeff Burton.

All because of an avoidable crash.

"I might get away from wearing black gloves to green or red," Yeley said. "Something more visible."

Martin said he might have seen Yeley waving had he been wearing a white glove, but Martin also admitted that he had his eyes locked on his rearview mirror.

"That [brighter gloves] is definitely a good thought, no doubt. It is really hard to see in these cars," Martin said. "I was not looking ahead probably when he was waving. I was coming out of the pit when he was waving. I was making sure I was clean and clear going into Turn 3.

"When I looked ahead, he wasn't on the bottom and I was in the gas on new tires. I was doing what I needed to do, unfortunately, I was probably checking behind me when he was waving."

Mark Martin exited his pits after a poor green-flag stop on Lap 240, and because the leader was bearing down on him, he kept his eyes fixed in the rearview mirror. He was trying to make up for lost time, and he had rookie J.J. Yeley directly in his path on the backstretch.

Because green-flag pit stops were occurring, standard procedure calls for each driver to wave his hand up and down while heading down the backstretch. Yeley says he was furiously pumping his hand out the window, but Martin never saw it.

Martin was battling a loose race car, and passing Yeley on the high side was not an option, partly since he had just completed his pit stop, and partly because Yeley was pitting from the second groove.

Because Martin was on sticker tires, the possibility of spinning out in the high groove is exponentially greater, so he hugged the low line. He didn't see Yeley until the last minute. By that time it was too late.

As NBC's cameras rolled, Martin's crew chief, Pat Tryson, angrily motioned toward Yeley as the driver entered the garage for repairs. Yeley said Tryson was also waiting for him after the race.

"Pat was waving and it looked like someone was trying to hold him back," Yeley said. "As I rolled out onto the racetrack after they got the car fixed, his team was loading up their pit box and you could hear guys clapping ands waving and cursing.

"I guess that is just the intensity of their championship run."

According to Yeley, the two apologized to each other when the two tested this week at Homestead.

At the very least, Martin did not see Yeley waving his hand to enter the pits. Yeley, who was wearing a black racing glove for the night race, said that he will consider wearing a glove that is easier to see for night races.

"There is no doubt -- you can't really even see [Yeley waving] on the tape," Tryson said. "[Yeley] was higher up than that when Mark went to pass him down low. What most people do, they pull down at the end of the backstretch, they are on the bottom. It's just one of those things, I guess. That is not the right place to make up time."

Lowe's Motor Speedway also does not house team spotters in a tight-knit area atop the grandstand. Its setup is more spread out, making pit warnings harder to communicate.

The results were disastrous. At the last second, Martin realized that Yeley was intending to pit. Because it was a green-flag stop, Yeley pitted from a slightly higher line. As it turns out, it was directly in Martin's path.

The two touched. According to Yeley, the contact was so slight that it barely damaged his car. After Yeley bounced off Martin, Robby Gordon crashed into Yeley, sending both to the garage.

Martin was not so lucky. The contact sent his Ford violently into the Turn 4 wall. It hit so hard that the impact sent the 3,400-lb chassis completely off the ground.

Yeley saw how hard Martin hit the wall. The accident enraged Martin's team members, several of whom jeered Yeley as he returned to the track after he stopped in the garage for repairs.

"I think [crew chief Addington] Steve went over and talked about what happened," Yeley said. "He just said that he had a horrible pit stop, came out and wasn't paying a lot of attention, he was checking his mirror, looking for the leader, said he never saw me wave off."

J.J. Yeley contends Saturday wreck was just a racing thing. Credit: Autostock

Martin agreed that the blame could be split down the middle, and added that Yeley's car should not have been that high in the groove.

"I didn't see him waving and that was my fault," Martin said. "He pitted out of the middle, the second groove, and that was his fault."

"You obviously don't want to take out a championship contender," Yeley said. "But at the same time, we are all out there racing, and like Mark said, it was just a racing accident."

"It was partly my fault, and partly his fault and that is where we should stand."

Yeley has struggled as a rookie this season. It hasn't helped that he has been involved in several accidents in the second half. His accident at LMS was his third in the row.

"It is going to be tough, me being a rookie because automatically I am going to get blamed for making some kind of mistake," Yeley said. "If the roles had been reversed and I had hit him as he was pitting, I know that I would have been blamed even more so."