IRL driver Ray crashes two cars at Speedway

It turned out to be a costly trip to Las Vegas for Indy Racing League driver Greg Ray -- and he never even made it to the gaming tables.

Ray was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Tuesday for the first of what was supposed to be a three-day test session when he crashed two cars in the span of less than two hours.

Ray, who drives for Team Menard and is second in the IRL points standings, was not injured in either accident.

"Mentally and physically, I'm fine," Ray said. "I'm really disappointed for myself and I feel really bad for my team. These guys have worked very hard and they're true professionals.

"They don't deserve to be put through this."

As a result of wrecking both cars Team Menard brought to Las Vegas for the test, Ray and his team packed up and returned to their Indianapolis race shop, foregoing the final two days of the test.

Ray had run an unofficial 208.97-mph lap when he spun and hit the wall in turn 4 on the 1.5-mile superspeedway. Less than two hours later, after bringing out his backup car, Ray crashed in turn 2.

"I really feel like something might have broke on the car on the first accident," said Ray, who is coming off a win at Dover Downs International Speedway 10 days ago. "It could have been something from fatigue coming off Dover."

Ray crashed his backup car on his third warm-up lap and was not even running at full speed.

"The conditions changed for the second car and I was warming up and wasn't really up to speed," he said. "It's just one of those things where the man upstairs lets you know that you're not superhuman.

"I think as good as things get and as bad as things get, you must look at it in an educational situation and take something positive from it. As a driver, you have to take all the responsibility."

Ray was joined by Henderson resident Sam Schmidt, Buzz Calkins and Nick Jonsson in the first day of the session, which is designed to test Firestone tires in preparation for the Sept. 26 Vegas.com 500 at LVMS.

The next stop on the IRL schedule is the Colorado 200 on Aug. 29 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

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