Junior wrecks car, conspiracy theory

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecking his pole-winning car in the Daytona 500 practice Wednesday afternoon will drop him from the front of the starting field to the back for Sunday’s race.

The accident also wrecked a conspiracy theory touted by Tony Kornheiser on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” the day before that alleged a NASCAR fix handed Earnhardt the pole.

Kornheiser said, “There are people in and around the NASCAR world, not just drivers but people who cover the sport as well, who are winking at this one. Who are wondering if this wasn’t a set-up because it’s the pole position, it’s not winning the race.”

The theory was largely based on the popular driver’s non-winning streak and this weekend being the 10-year anniversary of when his father, Dale Earnhardt, died on the last lap of the 500.

Dale Jarrett, a member of ESPN’s NASCAR team, had a terse response to the allegation before Wednesday’s crash.

“It pisses me off that somebody thinks that, from being inside … knowing how hard, and for so many years, that I and these guys worked on our racecars,” Jarrett said.

Earnhardt was pushing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson in Wednesday's practice when the contact caused Johnson to bobble.

A second pack of cars led by Martin Truex Jr. closed quickly on Earnhardt's bumper, causing the No. 88 Chevrolet to spin across the track and into the inside wall.

Hendrick Motorsports immediately pulled out a backup car for Earnhardt. He will have to forfeit the top starting spot in Sunday's season-opening race.

It will be Earnhardt's third car of Speedweeks. He wrecked one in last weekend's exhibition Budweiser Shootout.

Earnhardt must fall to the back of his pack for his Gatorade Duel race on Thursday and do the same on Sunday.

Should NASCAR change the rule and allow him to start on the pole then Kornheiser might have been on to something.

But I doubt that will happen.