Joey Logano says the 26-car crash at Talladega Superspeedway that eliminated numerous Jack Link’s 500 victory contenders proves they can’t race the current NASCAR Cup Series car without wrecking.
The 40-car field had completed the race’s longest Stage—98—laps and was in the 45-lap second Stage headed into turn three when Ross Chastain shoved Bubba Wallace on lap 115. They were in the center lane at the front of the field. Wallace’s Toyota turned to the right in front of the outside lane and then that lane collected cars in the center and inside lanes. Only four cars at the front escaped unscathed. Eliminated from the race were Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, Wallace, William Byron, Ty Gibbs, and Josh Berry. The race was halted for 9 minutes 58 seconds while the wreckage was cleared.
“We got to the point where we could start racing and not have to save fuel and we’ve proven with this car we can’t race each other without wrecking,” said Joey Logano, who led three laps in the 188-lap race. “We got maybe 10 or 12 laps of racing in before we wrecked. That’s about as far as I think we’ve ever gone.”
Due to the fuel mileage strategy teams had implemented at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR attempted to erase it by making the first Stage the longest, and then the final two Stages would each equate to the number of laps that comprise a single fuel stop—45 laps.
“It’s not like there’s any blame on anybody,” Blaney said. “It’s what this thing is. We all just kind of get bumping and banging, and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is.
“There’s no bubble. You’re just ramming through the guy in front of you. You have to be very precise with how you lift and drag brake to get on them gently. You’re just trying to take care of the person in front of you and it’s hard to do. We’re just all on top of each other and that’s what you get when you’re all on top of each other.”
Wallace said his Toyota was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable.
“Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars,” Wallace said.