‘Big One’ strikes in waning laps of Talladega Cup race

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Over a dozens cars were collected in the “Big One” in the closing laps of the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

With 20 laps to go, Chase Elliott was getting a bump from AJ Allmendinger working to draft past race leader Kyle Busch. Exiting Turn 2, Allmendinger drifted down towards the left-rear corner of Elliott’s car, getting Elliott loose. His No. 24 Chevrolet pointed down towards the inside wall for a second, then turned back up the track.

Allmendinger hooked Elliott and sent him spinning into the path of Joey Logano, who’s No. 22 Ford submarined underneath Elliott’s car and the air lifted his car off the ground. His car was airborne for roughly three seconds before coming to a rest with the left-front tire riding the steel barrier of the outside retaining wall and on the hood of Michael McDowell’s car down the backstretch.

This triggered a 16-car wreck and brought out the sixth caution of the race. Cleanup necessitated a 26-minute, 51-second red flag.

Elliott, the primary pinball in the wreck, said afterwards that Allmendinger “had a big run and he kind of got to my bumper and just happened to be in a bad spot coming up off the corner and was skewed a little bit to my left rear. And when that happens, it just unloads these cars too much.”

AJ Allmendinger’s car lies upside-down from contact from Joey Logano late in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

After Allmendinger hooked Elliott, his car got loose and turned up towards the wall. It was aided by contact from Kevin Harvick, who caught Allmendinger as he was swerving down to avoid him and hooked him in the process.

Allmendinger did a roughly half-spin before sliding backwards and slamming rear-on into the drivers side of Erik Jones.

Further contact from Logano, and the added force of cars piling into the 22 car, lifted Allmendinger’s car onto it’s left-side for roughly three seconds before settling upside-down.

After exiting the infield care center, Allmendinger said he was glad he “didn’t get hit upside down.”

“It’s just Talladega. It’s all it is,” he said. “The plan worked out. We waited in the back and got up front and I had (Dale Earnhardt) Junior pushing me, I had the best guy pushing me. I’m not sure. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the No. 24 of Chase they were kind of moving around and at the time I think Harvick got behind me and we were shoving and Chase opened the door and then kind of closed it and I tried to check up just a little bit and tapped him and when I checked up it was a big wreck after that.”

Other collected included Danica Patrick, who came down across the nose of Matt DiBenedetto and slammed into the jutted out opening of the inside retaining wall, Harvick, who spun up the track and sideswiped the outside wall, Martin Truex Jr. and Trevor Bayne, who both t-boned the passenger side of Logano’s car, and Austin Dillon, who slammed into the rear-end of Matt Kenseth’s car driving through the smoke of the wreck.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Tucker White
Tucker White
I've followed NASCAR for well over 20 years of my life, both as a fan and now as a member of the media. As of 2024, I'm on my ninth season as a traveling NASCAR beat writer. For all its flaws and dumb moments, NASCAR at its best produces some of the best action you'll ever see in the sport of auto racing. Case in point: Kyle Larson's threading the needle pass at Darlington Raceway on May 9, 2021. On used-up tires, racing on a worn surface and an aero package that put his car on the razor's edge of control, Larson demonstrated why he's a generational talent. Those are the stories I want to capture and break down. In addition to NASCAR, I also follow IndyCar and Formula 1. As a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I'm a diehard Tennessee Volunteers fan (especially in regards to Tennessee football). If covering NASCAR doesn't kill me, down the road, watching Tennessee football will. I'm also a diehard fan of the Atlanta Braves, and I lived long enough to see them win a World Series for the first time since 1995 (when I was just a year old). I've also sworn my fan allegiance to the Nashville Predators, though that's not paid out as much as the Braves. Furthermore, as a massive sports dork, I follow the NFL on a weekly basis. Though it's more out of an obligation than genuine passion (for sports dorks, following the NFL is basically an unwritten rule). Outside of sports, I'm a major cinema buff and a weeb. My favorite film is "Blazing Saddles" and my favorite anime is "Black Lagoon."

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