Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will start the Daytona 500 from the back of the field after wrecking his primary car during practice on Wednesday. Dale, Jr. was pushing Hendrick teammate Jimmy Johnson when the incident occurred. Johnson checked up to avoid the cars of Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip and David Gilliland and started a chain reaction that severely damaged the No. 88 Chevrolet.

“I was running out of space, and I thought that hole was going to close, and I lifted, and I got turned sideways from behind,” Johnson said afterwards.

Earnhardt, Jr. hit Johnson with Martin Truex, Jr. getting in the back of Earnhardt, Jr. Brian Vickers, who was pushing Truex, Jr. got involved as Dale, Jr. spun across the track and made contact with the inside wall.

“We come running up on some guys that didn’t have their heads on straight and got into an accident,” said Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

The Hendrick team is now working on repairing Jr.'s car from the shootout to use as a backup car for the backup car that he has to run Thursday and Sunday. NASCAR rules say you have to go to the back when you switch to a backup car.

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