NASCAR: What caused the historic 28-car crash at Talladega?

On a day when sports fans were likely in a state of euphoria with NFL games kicking off nationwide and the MLB postseason heating up, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega was meant to be the icing on the cake. Instead, the YellaWood 500 was anything but.

Historic 28-car crash brings YellaWood 500 to a halt

What a Sunday it was at Talladega. With only five laps to go, NASCAR fans were treated to a scene of absolute mayhem with a 28-car crash, but the question that remains is of course what happened? Indeed, it’s hard to believe that what was a seemingly innocuous move between drivers on the track could turn into such chaos.

The moment in question came when Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were battling for the lead and the win going down the backstretch as the lead pack made their way past Todd Gilliland, who himself, was being docked a lap after losing the draft due to a pit road speeding penalty on his final green flag stop. At that moment, Cindric spotted a gap between himself and Brad Keselowski but it was quickly closed as Keselowski received a push from Joey Logano. That push was simply too much for Cindric to take.

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As a result, Cindric spun off the bumper of Keselowski and in front of traffic after bouncing off Stenhouse’s car to his outside, triggering a collision that took out essentially the entirety of the lead pack. Like we said, mayhem. Regarding the complete list of cars involved in the crash, it is as follows: Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, A.J. Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie, Josh Berry, Todd Gilliland, Anthony Alfredo, Zane Smith, Martin Truex Jr., Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, and Erik Jones. That group included eight of the playoff drivers - Cindric being one - who had were in contention for a spot in the Round of 8.

Now, where history is concerned, there have in fact been other documented crashes involving more cars prior to the sport’s modern era (1972 onwards). That said, Sunday’s 28-car pileup is the largest crash that has been statistically recorded by NASCAR, with the previous all-time high for cars involved in a crash being 27. So, how did the race eventually end after the debris was cleared and the race restarted? It was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who got the win in a photo finish.