Talladega Plays Host to Largest Crash in NASCAR Cup Series History

It was a historic day at Talladega Superspeedway, but not for the reasons fans might have hoped for. A giant crash—the biggest ever recorded for a NASCAR Cup Series—wiped out nearly the entire field for Sunday’s YellaWood 500. The incident began when RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski hit the car being driven by Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, leading to a chain reaction that would take out a total of 28 cars in the mid-race pileup. The crash included eight of the 12 drivers currently slated to compete for the racing series’ playoffs, according to NASCAR . Only four drivers escaped the wreck: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin. Videos of the incident show more than a dozen cars all sliding out as they accelerated down the track’s back stretch, leading to a large plume of smoke and huge piles of debris. After a lengthy cleanup period, the race resumed and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won in a photo finish.

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