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No solutions this time to big wreck

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Drivers, many of whom had just climbed out of wrecked race cars, were asked about ways to eliminate the multicar pileups that seem always to occur in restrictor-plate races.

Most shrugged.

Twenty-five laps from the finish, someone -- it was hard to tell who -- bobbled during the Aaron's 499 and 24 cars were sent spinning, sliding, skidding and smashing down the backstretch of 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

Should NASCAR tinker with the plates? The aerodynamic rules? The track?

"I'd love to see them do something, but, man, they've been working at it for a lot of years but haven't been able to come up with much yet," said four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who avoided the wreck to finish fourth. "We just keep our fingers crossed."

Runner-up Michael Waltrip said accidents at Talladega and Daytona, where restrictor plates reduce speeds by sapping horsepower, are no different than wrecks at other tracks on the Winston Cup circuit: manmade.

"The further the race goes, the more chance there is for a wreck because everybody says, 'Okay, I've got to get going now,' " Waltrip said. "I don't blame Talladega or the plate. It's the decisions that we make that cause the wrecks."

The rules package has been under scrutiny since Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Rules instituted this season supposedly make racing safer.

Though Sunday's crash was spectacular, no one was injured. Elliott Sadler got the worst of it when his No. 21 Ford veered through the grass and into the inside wall.

"It's about the hardest hit I've ever taken, so I commend NASCAR on the safety of these cars," Sadler said. "My HANS device did great. I'm just going to have a little headache in the morning. It took my breath away."

ROUSH UPDATE: Team owner Jack Roush was upgraded to serious condition by doctors at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham.

Roush, 60, suffered a head injury and several fractures of the left leg Friday when the twin-engine plane he was piloting crashed into a pond in a residential neighborhood in south Alabama.

Encouraged by Roush's ability to recognize and respond to visitors, doctors performed surgery Saturday to insert a rod in the femur, put plates and pins in the ankle and repair ligament damage in the knee and ankle.

"He's one of the toughest guys I know," said Jeff Burton, one of Roush's four Winston Cup drivers. "He's certainly hard-headed, and that is going to work for him on this occasion. That they were able to do the surgery is a great sign."

HOT SEAT: Johnny Benson was given ice and fluids to treat smoke inhalation after his No. 10 Pontiac caught fire on pit road and was sprayed by emergency workers with fire extinguishers. Benson was released from the infield care center.

MIND OVER MATTER: NASCAR stripped Kenny Wallace of fifth place, ruling he went below the yellow out-of-bounds line at the bottom of the track to pass Sterling Marlin in the closing laps. Wallace was credited with 21st, the last car on the lead lap.

"I went to go underneath Sterling and he body-slammed me. What was I going to do?" said Wallace, driving the No. 98 Chevrolet owned by Waltrip. "I know in my mind I finished fifth."

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