ACCIDENT DERAILS TOP-15 RUN FOR WISE AND NO. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS TOYOTA TEAM AT RICHMOND

RICHMOND, Va. - A top-15 run for Josh Wise came to an abrupt halt when his No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry made contact with another car. The accident resulted in a 35th-place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) on Sunday night.

"There was a miscommunication with the spotter," Wise said. "It seems to happen to every spotter, even when guys have been doing this deal for a long time."

The No. 5 car driven by Landon Cassill was on the outside of Wise's No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry when contact was made sending both of them into the retaining wall on lap 202. As Wise's team pushed his car into the garage to load it on the transporter, Cassill didn't have much damage to his car and soldiered on to a 12th-place finish.

"It's just a shame because we could have left Richmond with a top-10 finish," Wise said.

Before the race on Sunday evening, Tropical Storm Hanna wreaked havoc at RIR on Friday. While Wise prepared for his two NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying laps, rain started to fall on the .75-mile, D-shaped oval at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Both fields were set by the NASCAR rule book. With the potential threat of more rain the next day, NASCAR postponed the running of both events for the safety of the fans. It presented a doubleheader situation at RIR on Sunday.

"I think that was the best thing to do," Wise said. "We didn't know what the weather was going to do."

With essentially no points attached to the No. 00, Wise started the 250-lap event 43rd. After the green flag waved, the Riverside, Calif., native worked his way up to 26th before his first pit stop of the night on lap 31 for four tires and adjustments.

"The car was tight past the center," Wise said.

Wise restarted 29th on lap 37, but quickly moved into the top 20 by lap 44. As the next caution occurred at lap 53, Wise keyed his radio to communicate to crew chief Paul Wolfe the condition of his No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry. He was shown in 16th place.

"The car started off good, but would lose grip in the center," Wise said.

As the race progressed, Wise was free through the center and the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota team continued to make adjustments. Then on lap 108, Wise's teammate David Reutimann ran into problems. While running in eighth place, Reutimann's car snapped loose and hit the retaining wall causing significant damage to his No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota. Reutimann brought out the fourth caution of the race.

Wise had his hands full as well. His No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry was plowing through the corners. Wise was 17th when he entered pit road under caution on lap 162 for four tires along with a wedge and track bar adjustment.

"The car was tight everywhere and it was chattering the tires at that point," Wise elaborated.

Wise was forced to pit again on the next lap for the team to finish up adjustments. The No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota restarted 19th when the race went back to green on lap 167. Shortly thereafter, Wise entered the top 15 and set his eyes on the top-10 finish. Two laps later, Wise's night ended abruptly due to the contact with Cassill relegating him to a 35th-place finish. Carl Edwards won the event and Wise's teammate - David Reutimann - finished one position ahead of him.

The top-10 in driver points are the following:

1) C. Bowyer 4,088;(2) C. Edwards 3,881;(3) Brad Keselowski 3,809;(4) M. Bliss 3,604;(5) D. Ragan 3,583;(6) D. Reutimann 3,564;(7) K. Busch 3,478;(8) M. Wallace 3,254;(9) M. Ambrose 3,206;(10) J. Leffler 3,202.

After an off weekend, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will return to action at Dover International Speedway. Live coverage of the Camping World RV Sales 200 is on Saturday, Sept. 20. It will air on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. ET and 3:30 p.m. ET on MRN Radio.