Moments after the commentators foreshadowed mayhem on the track, the prophecy was fulfilled in a major crash that engulfed nearly the entire field — 28 cars in what turned into one of the largest ‘big ones’ NASCAR ever witnessed. The chaos was initially triggered at the front of the pack when Austin Cindric spun out after receiving a bump from Brad Keselowski.
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However, in the thick of it, Chase Briscoe, who was tailgating Harrison Burton’s #21, nudged Joey Logano‘s #22, setting off a chain reaction that sent Keselowski crashing into Cindric. But the turmoil was far from over; in the middle of the field, Josh Berry’s #4 Ford nudged Noah Gragson’s #10, which then slammed into John Hunter Nemechek’s #42, escalating the havoc.
Up in the top lane, pandemonium broke out when Tyler Reddick rammed into Kyle Busch, sparking another reaction that also snagged Denny Hamlin. Yet, just ahead, Kyle Larson and William Byron skirted catastrophe, with Busch keeping his car steady despite the turmoil.
In his post-race commentary, Logano cleared Keselowski of any wrongdoing, noting that pushing and drafting are par for the course in the race’s latter stages. “The No. 2 got out there a little bit more than what he has been. The No. 21 gave me a shove, and I transferred that to the No. 6,” the #22 explained.
“You can’t see what’s in front of you from there. He got to the No. 2 with a fair amount of steam; it’s nobody’s fault, it’s not Brad’s fault, it’s not anybody’s fault. It’s the product of the races we’ve got. Everyone gets more and more aggressive as the laps wind down. It happens; it happens a lot.”
Logano expressed his dissatisfaction with the recent race at Talladega
After a disappointing P33 finish, Logano finds himself below the cutline, trailing by 13 points in the Round of 12 playoff standings. Reflecting on the performance of the Next Gen car at the tri-oval, the #22 Team Penske driver remarked,
“I didn’t even have fun today. You can’t even do anything here. You’re running four-wide, that looks cool but you’re running half throttle and then when you wanna go and it’s time to go, everyone’s just stuck two-wide. So, there’s just not many moves you can make.”
“You just keep trying to re-learn how to run on these superspeedways as it evolves but the car has just got so much drag on it, you can’t make many moves, make runs happen, and cross people up. You’re committed to where you are in that line.”
With an average finish of 8.7 at Charlotte Roval, where the Round of 12 elimination race is set to take place, Logano will have a prime opportunity to revitalize his championship hopes.
