The Geico 500 took place under threatening skies, which spurred drivers to be as near the front as possible in case rain ended the race short of its scheduled distance.
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Forty cars lined up for the race and 35 of them were wrecked in some way by a crash – sometimes a few times.
There were cars upside-down twice during the event. “There was fire on the inside of the vehicle”. It was insane and thrilling and stupid and exciting and jaw-dropping and head-scratching.
Later, in his media conference, Busch said, “I hate it. I’d much rather sit at home”.
Keselowski celebrated in Victory Lane as if his prayers were answered. Many other cars were torn up after the heart-stopping incident. That’s when things went from bad to worse.
What if NASCAR gave the Rolex 24 course a shot for its July Daytona race? No pieces appeared to fly into the stands.
Whenever you’re watching a race at a track like Daytona or Talladega, really the only part you need to see is the ending; anticipation of “the big one”.
This is nothing new at Talladega, the treacherous 2.66-mile tri-oval at which speeds of 200-plus miles per hour are attainable, or at least would be if NASCAR didn’t mandate the use of restrictor plates – which limit engine power by cutting down on air and fuel intake.
“We all have to do it. I don’t know how many really love it”, Dillon said.
“That’s where it all comes from”.
His auto was fighting fit again after his involvement with Buescher’s dramatic flips, but his luck ran out when the back of his vehicle saw the kind of flames you’d expect to see blasting out the back of a rocket. But we got a push from the 1 auto (McMurray), which helped me get a run to get up next to the 41 (Kurt Busch).
The second big one came 12 laps later when points leader Carl Edwards spun out of control, crashing into fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., his second crash on the day.
“Not that that auto got obsolete or that is the reason why I keep spinning out in it, but we typically wouldn’t keep bringing a vehicle back for that long a period of time”, Earnhardt said.
The accident on the final lap came after Landon Cassill knocked Kevin Harvick sideways in the tri-oval.
Chase Elliott led the field to the green flag with Austin Dillon in second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third.
Keselowski said those blocking moves were the ones he had to make, and they weren’t reckless. Part of the perverse paradigm of restrictor-plate racing is that while it’s a form of racing that drivers consider random in many ways and not necessarily representative of their skill, it provides an inordinate amount of glory. “It’s our responsibility as drivers to figure that out”. In the end, rain never halted the race. He led five times for a race-high 46 laps Sunday at ‘Dega.
One of those “small” ones sent Chris Buescher flipping.
Kenseth’s vehicle flipped, then went for a wild ride skidding wheels up on the SAFER barrier before stopping right-side up.
“It was nearly like the entire race was overtime”, O’Donnell said. “But, gosh, I’m not saying there isn’t ways to do better than what we have”. Did the safety equipment do its job?’ and then what can we learn from that. “You get butterflies in your stomach even thinking about coming here because you don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s how stupid we are”. Matt Kenseth, who led several laps and ran near the front throughout the race, was caught up in an incident with Danica Patrick with eight laps to go.
Here are six of the most terrifying crashes, including violent somersaults, smashing hits, cars on fire, sizzling smoke and a heap of wrecked metal. “But it’s just plate racing”. Her hardest hits have come at restrictor-plate tracks. They fixed the damage, never panicked. Fans – enough of them anyway – crave this stuff.
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Keselowski didn’t say that to be trite. “Just taking a deep breath”. He said he saw an accident happening, but didn’t had time to react. I think people, if they’re cheering for crashes, man, it’s not a good thing. Talladega’s always been that way, but it’s been very good to me and I’m thankful for that.
