Casey Mears and Sam Hornish Jr walked away unhurt from a fiery crash in the early stages of Sunday's already delayed Auto Club 500 at the Auto Club Speedway although the cause of the accident, ‘weeping' seams in the tracks asphalt surface, caused yet another delay to proceedings.
Following a two and a half hour delay the green flag finally waved for the second round of the 2008 Sprint Cup Championship at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway but just 21 laps into the 250 lap event the red flags were out again following a nasty looking accident involving Mears, Hornish Jr, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Reed Sorenson.
Running inside the top ten aboard his #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Mears suddenly hit a patch of water in turn two and speared towards the outside wall before spinning down the track into the path of oncoming traffic. The first car on the scene was the #88 Hendrick Chevrolet of Earnhardt Jr who sideswiped his teammate and sent Mears spinning back up the track towards the outside wall again.
As cars tried to slow behind the crash Hornish Jr collected Sorenson with Sorenson spinning to the infield and Hornish, complete with crumpled hood and no steering, piled into the rear end of Mears' car, lifting it off the ground and onto its roof.
The two cars came to rest with the front of Hornish Jr's car pushing the roof of Mears' inverted machine and with a full load of fuel on board, a fire quickly erupted at the front of the #77 Penske Racing Dodge. Luckily track officials were on the scene quickly to extinguish the conflagration and both Mears and Hornish Jr were able to extricate themselves without assistance.
However the residual moisture on the track was a cause for concern with several drivers, including Denny Hamlin who smacked the wall on lap 14 after hitting water in turns three and four, commenting that the track was not raceworthy.
![Casey Mears. [Pic Credit Streeter Lecka/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/190203.jpg)
