Three NASCAR Cup champions crash in Talladega pit entry stack-up
On Lap 43 of 60 in the first stage at Talladega, green-flag pit stops were well underway. Exiting Turn 4, a group of Fords planned to pit together — and that's when disaster struck.
That's when three Cup champions and former winners at the famed track suffered significant damage early in Sunday's 500-mile race.
Advertisement
It began when RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski, who has the most wins of any active driver in the Cup Series at this superspeedway, slowed down to entered the pit lane under green. Fellow Cup champion Kyle Busch was unable to slow in time and got into the back of Keselowski, sending both cars spinning across the track. After hitting the door of Alex Bowman's No. 48 machine, they spun back to the inside. That's where Ryan Blaney got clipped in the right-rear by Keselowski, spinning wildly down the frontstretch.
"I don't know what happened," radioed Busch. "We never dropped below the yellow line there. I don't know if they checked up too much for him or what." Busch's steering wheel was knocked 90 degrees to the right, and the team needed to make repairs to the toe of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Keselowski and Blaney react to early exit
While Busch remained on track, both Keselowski and Blaney were forced to take their cars behind the wall. They are officially out of the race.
Advertisement
"Just a stack of guys trying to come to pit road as fast as they could," said Keselowski after exiting the infield care center. "We were kind of the ham in the sandwich. I got squeezed. I don't know, I waved down the backstretch just to let everyone know I was gonna pit. I came off (Turn) 4 and everybody was still tight behind me. I didn't even have a chance to really turn left. Hate that it ruined, not just our day, but several other people's days, but I don't feel like I could have done anything different."
Blaney thought he had found a way through the chaos, but the change of direction left him with no way to go and his fourth DNF in the first ten races.
"I feel like we're all easily pretty decent getting to pit road," said Blaney. "Just kind of the point in the race where everyone is going to save some gas and then pit and everyone usually does a really good job of letting people know. I didn't sense anything was gonna happen. Really, from what I could see, the 6 [Keselowski] was trying to get to pit road with his group and I don't know if the the guy behind him [Busch] didn't know, didn't see and just kind of ran Brad over.
"And when they got hooked together, they were going up the track, so I just kind of committed to the bottom and I think they clipped someone on the top and ricocheted the 6 [Keselowski] back down the race track into me. That just stinks. Another DNF is no fun. We've just been riddled with those this year. Hopefully we can get that sorted out and get a little fortune on our side."
Advertisement
Officially, Keselowski finish 38th and Blaney 39th. Busch's car is wounded, but he was able to stay on the lead lap.
Read Also:
NASCAR teams prepare for grueling 28 weeks of racing with no breaks
Stenhouse: Fuel strategy is now the "only thing that matters" at Talladega
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
16 minutes ago
- Washington Post
NASCAR goes south of the border to grow fan base with its 1st Cup Series race in Mexico City
NASCAR's first international Cup Series race of the modern era is all about the eyeballs, specifically new fans in the Mexico City market. NASCAR will be on the track Friday for the first of three days of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, one of the most popular stops on the Formula 1 calendar and Ben Kennedy's newest project. The great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., Kennedy has taken the family business beyond its comfortable confines before. Kennedy in 2022 moved the preseason exhibition Clash from its longtime home at Daytona International Speedway in Florida to a temporary track built inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . Kennedy this year moved the Clash to The Madhouse — the historic Bowman Gray Stadium, which had last hosted a Cup race in 1971, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. NASCAR under Kennedy also returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina for the first time since 1977 when the All-Star race was moved there three years ago. He allowed dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, a hybrid road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, alongside his biggest undertaking: NASCAR's first street race, held in downtown Chicago. He also had his eyes set on expanding internationally, which will come Sunday with the first points-paying international race in the Cup Series since 1958. It is only third time in 77 years that NASCAR's top series will run an event that counts in the championship outside the United States. The last two times were in Canada; the Cup Series also has held exhibitions in Japan and Australia. 'Our biggest opportunity to grow as a sport is international,' Kennedy said when he announced Mexico City was replacing one of the two races on the schedule allocated to Richmond International Raceway. 'The U.S. is always going to be our mainstay and our next opportunity was to expand internationally,' he said. 'We said we've wanted to do this for a long time, but also needed to make sure it was the right time, the right partners and the right location. Mexico City checked every box. To be in one of the biggest cities globally — over 20 million people that live in the city — is a massive opportunity for us to bring the sport.' The weekend includes the second-tier Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Mexico Series. It's a strong return to a market that devours the entire F1 weekend ticket package within an hour of them becoming available. Mexicans have proven to be rabid motorsports fans but haven't gotten a chance to see NASCAR's big names since 2008, the final year of a four-year run of Xfinity races. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were winners during the four-year stretch. Daniel Suarez, the former Xfinity champion and native of Monterrey, is NASCAR's face of the event. He raced the circuit 13 times with a different layout in the NASCAR Mexico Series, and three of Suarez's starts were wins. 'I'm super excited for the event. I'm super excited to live the moment because the first time is going to only happen once,' Suarez said. 'I'm really trying to be as present as possible, enjoy the moment and try to execute the best possible weekend that we can. We know that we are capable of winning the race, but that's not the goal. The goal is the execution of the entire weekend, and hopefully the win is the result of the execution part.' The planning that has gone into Mexico City, one of 38 events on the Cup schedule, began about a year ago. NASCAR has worked on myriad details, beginning with how to get nearly 200 trucks hauling race cars and equipment from Michigan International Speedway into Mexico City. NASCAR official Tom Bryant has spearheaded the organizational logistics and made multiple trips to the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, to meet with customs officials from both nations. The drive from Michigan to Mexico City is about 40 hours, not including the tedious customs crossing, where all the equipment and tools on every NASCAR hauler must be documented on an exhaustive manifest. Cup Series teams cars were scheduled for a Monday night arrival at Laredo, with crossing scheduled for Tuesday and arrival at the track on Thursday. 'It's been a ton of coordination moving lots of people and lots of stuff safely and efficiently across a great distance and an international border,' Bryant said on the 'Hauler Talk' NASCAR podcast. 'There is a lot to it, but the key to it is you just have to define the problem. We've got to get these people and these things from this point to that point within a certain time period,' he said. 'How do we do it in a way that's going to best position us to be ready to go to work as soon as we hit the ground down there? Because this is a pretty tight window.' ___ AP auto racing:
32 minutes ago
NASCAR goes south of the border to grow fan base with its 1st Cup Series race in Mexico City
NASCAR's first international Cup Series race of the modern era is all about the eyeballs, specifically new fans in the Mexico City market. NASCAR will be on the track Friday for the first of three days of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, one of the most popular stops on the Formula 1 calendar and Ben Kennedy's newest project. The great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., Kennedy has taken the family business beyond its comfortable confines before. Kennedy in 2022 moved the preseason exhibition Clash from its longtime home at Daytona International Speedway in Florida to a temporary track built inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Kennedy this year moved the Clash to The Madhouse — the historic Bowman Gray Stadium, which had last hosted a Cup race in 1971, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. NASCAR under Kennedy also returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina for the first time since 1977 when the All-Star race was moved there three years ago. He allowed dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, a hybrid road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, alongside his biggest undertaking: NASCAR's first street race, held in downtown Chicago. He also had his eyes set on expanding internationally, which will come Sunday with the first points-paying international race in the Cup Series since 1958. It is only third time in 77 years that NASCAR's top series will run an event that counts in the championship outside the United States. The last two times were in Canada; the Cup Series also has held exhibitions in Japan and Australia. 'Our biggest opportunity to grow as a sport is international,' Kennedy said when he announced Mexico City was replacing one of the two races on the schedule allocated to Richmond International Raceway. 'The U.S. is always going to be our mainstay and our next opportunity was to expand internationally," he said. "We said we've wanted to do this for a long time, but also needed to make sure it was the right time, the right partners and the right location. Mexico City checked every box. To be in one of the biggest cities globally — over 20 million people that live in the city — is a massive opportunity for us to bring the sport.' The weekend includes the second-tier Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Mexico Series. It's a strong return to a market that devours the entire F1 weekend ticket package within an hour of them becoming available. Mexicans have proven to be rabid motorsports fans but haven't gotten a chance to see NASCAR's big names since 2008, the final year of a four-year run of Xfinity races. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were winners during the four-year stretch. Daniel Suarez, the former Xfinity champion and native of Monterrey, is NASCAR's face of the event. He raced the circuit 13 times with a different layout in the NASCAR Mexico Series, and three of Suarez's starts were wins. 'I'm super excited for the event. I'm super excited to live the moment because the first time is going to only happen once,' Suarez said. "I'm really trying to be as present as possible, enjoy the moment and try to execute the best possible weekend that we can. We know that we are capable of winning the race, but that's not the goal. The goal is the execution of the entire weekend, and hopefully the win is the result of the execution part.' The planning that has gone into Mexico City, one of 38 events on the Cup schedule, began about a year ago. NASCAR has worked on myriad details, beginning with how to get nearly 200 trucks hauling race cars and equipment from Michigan International Speedway into Mexico City. NASCAR official Tom Bryant has spearheaded the organizational logistics and made multiple trips to the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, to meet with customs officials from both nations. The drive from Michigan to Mexico City is about 40 hours, not including the tedious customs crossing, where all the equipment and tools on every NASCAR hauler must be documented on an exhaustive manifest. Cup Series teams cars were scheduled for a Monday night arrival at Laredo, with crossing scheduled for Tuesday and arrival at the track on Thursday. 'It's been a ton of coordination moving lots of people and lots of stuff safely and efficiently across a great distance and an international border,' Bryant said on the 'Hauler Talk' NASCAR podcast. 'There is a lot to it, but the key to it is you just have to define the problem. We've got to get these people and these things from this point to that point within a certain time period," he said. "How do we do it in a way that's going to best position us to be ready to go to work as soon as we hit the ground down there? Because this is a pretty tight window.'
Hamilton Spectator
38 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
NASCAR goes south of the border to grow fan base with its 1st Cup Series race in Mexico City
NASCAR's first international Cup Series race of the modern era is all about the eyeballs, specifically new fans in the Mexico City market. NASCAR will be on the track Friday for the first of three days of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, one of the most popular stops on the Formula 1 calendar and Ben Kennedy's newest project. The great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., Kennedy has taken the family business beyond its comfortable confines before. Kennedy in 2022 moved the preseason exhibition Clash from its longtime home at Daytona International Speedway in Florida to a temporary track built inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . Kennedy this year moved the Clash to The Madhouse — the historic Bowman Gray Stadium, which had last hosted a Cup race in 1971, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. NASCAR under Kennedy also returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina for the first time since 1977 when the All-Star race was moved there three years ago. He allowed dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, a hybrid road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, alongside his biggest undertaking: NASCAR's first street race, held in downtown Chicago. He also had his eyes set on expanding internationally, which will come Sunday with the first points-paying international race in the Cup Series since 1958. It is only third time in 77 years that NASCAR's top series will run an event that counts in the championship outside the United States. The last two times were in Canada; the Cup Series also has held exhibitions in Japan and Australia. 'Our biggest opportunity to grow as a sport is international,' Kennedy said when he announced Mexico City was replacing one of the two races on the schedule allocated to Richmond International Raceway. 'The U.S. is always going to be our mainstay and our next opportunity was to expand internationally,' he said. 'We said we've wanted to do this for a long time, but also needed to make sure it was the right time, the right partners and the right location. Mexico City checked every box. To be in one of the biggest cities globally — over 20 million people that live in the city — is a massive opportunity for us to bring the sport.' The weekend includes the second-tier Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Mexico Series. It's a strong return to a market that devours the entire F1 weekend ticket package within an hour of them becoming available. Mexicans have proven to be rabid motorsports fans but haven't gotten a chance to see NASCAR's big names since 2008, the final year of a four-year run of Xfinity races. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were winners during the four-year stretch. Daniel Suarez, the former Xfinity champion and native of Monterrey, is NASCAR's face of the event. He raced the circuit 13 times with a different layout in the NASCAR Mexico Series, and three of Suarez's starts were wins. 'I'm super excited for the event. I'm super excited to live the moment because the first time is going to only happen once,' Suarez said. 'I'm really trying to be as present as possible, enjoy the moment and try to execute the best possible weekend that we can. We know that we are capable of winning the race, but that's not the goal. The goal is the execution of the entire weekend, and hopefully the win is the result of the execution part.' The planning that has gone into Mexico City, one of 38 events on the Cup schedule, began about a year ago. NASCAR has worked on myriad details, beginning with how to get nearly 200 trucks hauling race cars and equipment from Michigan International Speedway into Mexico City. NASCAR official Tom Bryant has spearheaded the organizational logistics and made multiple trips to the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, to meet with customs officials from both nations. The drive from Michigan to Mexico City is about 40 hours, not including the tedious customs crossing, where all the equipment and tools on every NASCAR hauler must be documented on an exhaustive manifest. Cup Series teams cars were scheduled for a Monday night arrival at Laredo, with crossing scheduled for Tuesday and arrival at the track on Thursday. 'It's been a ton of coordination moving lots of people and lots of stuff safely and efficiently across a great distance and an international border,' Bryant said on the 'Hauler Talk' NASCAR podcast. 'There is a lot to it, but the key to it is you just have to define the problem. We've got to get these people and these things from this point to that point within a certain time period,' he said. 'How do we do it in a way that's going to best position us to be ready to go to work as soon as we hit the ground down there? Because this is a pretty tight window.' ___ AP auto racing:
