The big crash in Days of Thunder didn't destroy this many cars.

Twenty-five cars wrecked on the final lap of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, converting turn 4 at Talladega Superspeedway into a smoky scrapyard. The incident forced series officials to spend about an hour analyzing video and scoring data to determine the finishing order.

ESCAPE ARTIST: Kenseth avoids crash to win at Talladega

Defending series champion Tony Stewart took the blame for causing the accident.

"I just screwed up,'' Stewart said. "I turned down across ... Michael (Waltrip) and crashed the whole field. It was my fault blocking to try to stay where I was.

"I was trying to win the race. Michael got a great run on the bottom, a big head of steam. When I turned down, I turned down across Michael's race car. Just a mistake on my part that cost a lot of people.''



Waltrip had no ill will for Stewart.

"I don't blame Tony at all because anybody in the world would have had to block like that,'' said Waltrip, who went from a possible chance at the win to finishing 25th. "That's what you had to do on the last lap.''

Jeff Gordon, who finished second, said that Stewart's admission was admirable but not what caused the incident.

"When you look at the bigger pictures is that really what caused it?'' Gordon asked. "Because this type of racing and the way aerodynamics are and the power of these cars, that's what happens.

"When you lose that momentum, you lose a ton. You're going backwards in such a hurry and the other guys are coming forward with so much momentum it's inevitable that those types of things are going to happen.''

Stewart, whose car went airborne momentarily and flipped backward, then landed on the hood of another before settling on the track, was cleared at the infield care center.

When he addressed the media afterward on his condition, he tried wry humor: "I'm a finely tuned athlete. I have a good workout regimen."

But he was quick to take the blame.

Sunday marked the seventh time in the last eight Talladega races that there's been a crash within the final 10 laps. Nine cars crashed late in the spring race at NASCAR's biggest track.

Once Stewart, who was leading, cut down on the fast-approaching Waltrip and spun, there was nowhere for the field to go.

"You're kind of bouncing around out there like ping pong balls,'' said Martin Truex Jr., who finished 13th.

Said Marcos Ambrose: "I have no idea where I finished, but we'll just go on to the next one and forget about this."

He finished 27th.

Because of the likelihood of a multi-car accident, Denny Hamlin spent much of the race at the back of the pack, along with other drivers vying for the championship such as Stewart and Jimmie Johnson.

"With this strategy, you're basically conceding a win, a chance at a win but you're just trying to do damage control and not finish in the 20s or 30s,'' he said after placing 11th.

"I'm sure my fans are frustrated (with that strategy). It's what you have to do.''

Hamlin made it to the finish by weaving through wrecked cars.

"Once the guys wrecked, we just backed off and went through them as they were spinning out,'' he said, standing in a garage area strewn with debris and muddled by a tow-truck traffic jam.

By getting through the crash, Hamlin lost only seven points to series points leader Brad Keselowski. Hamlin is third in the standings behind Keselowski and Johnson. With six races left, Hamlin, who is 23 points out of the lead, still has a shot at the title.

"It's good to get it all over with and go on to real race tracks where we can control our destiny,'' Hamlin said over the din of saws cutting sheet metal so the cars could fit in their team trailers. "Just listen around you, it's a junkyard."