TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Two cars went airborne, 35 were involved in an accident of some kind, and Danica Patrick had the wind knocked out of her in a vicious crash into the wall.
Just another demolition derby at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brad Keselowski won the crash-fest Sunday that was dominated by multiple wrecks that caused millions of dollars in damage to race teams. It was Keselowski’s fourth career win at Talladega and second victory of the season, and ended Joe Gibbs Racing’s streak of four consecutive victories.
“Crazy day. Somehow we managed to stay ahead of or out of all the chaos,” Keselowski said. “That’s how Talladega goes. Sometimes we run here and everybody kind of lines up against the wall, and sometimes we come here and it’s crazy side by side, wreck ‘em up, flip ‘em.
“I think that’s kind of the allure to coming here because you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
That’s not entirely true about Talladega, which more times than not turns into a mess of wrecked race cars.
Keselowski said that’s just part of restrictor-plate racing at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Chris Buescher’s car flipped three times in an early crash, and Matt Kenseth was turned upside down in the waning laps. In Kenseth’s accident, Patrick hit hard into an energy-absorbing wall that that seemed to buckle upon impact. She appeared shaken after the hit and hustled out of her burning car.
There were 21- and 12-car accidents in the final 28 laps. NASCAR’s box score showed 35 of the 40 cars were involved in some sort of accident.
Only 21 of the 40 cars finished on the lead lap, and 12 cars were ruled out of the race.
Second-place finisher Kyle Busch said he looked in his rearview mirror at one point and only saw four cars without some sort of damage
Austin Dillon finished third and said he enjoyed the race, even though it was nerve-racking.