The first round of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway was uneventful, dominated by commercials more than anything else. A few minutes after Stage 2, "The Big One" happened in Dega.
Just 17 laps into the second stage with racing three-wide at the front of the field, Ross Chastain came to the middle of the lane. This created a stack-up with Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry and Joey Logano behind him, that momentum carried Bubba Wallace to the lead.
READ MORE: Tyler Reddick announces contract decision
The No. 23 car came loose from the stack-up push and overturned into the wall, where it was struck by Cole Custer's No. 41 car. Custer went down and hit Daniel Suarez, who spun into Logano, and the massacre took over most of the field.
Wallace exited his car due to the damage at the end of the race and was taken to the infield care center where he was treated. Speaking to Fox's pit reporter Jamie Little, he accepted responsibility for what happened.
"We have to figure out how to push better, so I'll take charge. We'll do a good debrief and figure out what we can do to make our Toyota a little better at pushing."
Bubba Wallace on "The Big One" in Dega
In total, NASCAR reported that Seth Eggert counted at least 30 cars that were involved in this massive crash. Obviously, this required a red flag, as the NASCAR Cup Series looked to set a record for the worst crash in the modern era.
About 14 lead-lap cars escaped damage. Coming out of the wreck, the running order for Jack Link's 500 was Ryan Preece, Chastain, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Eric Jones, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Noah Gragson, Zane Smith and Austin Dillon, as recorded by The Athletic's Jeff Gluck.
- DNFs from the Wreck: Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, William Byron, Chad Fincham and Cole Custer
Logano, Custer, Blaney, Berry, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski all went to the garage with their cars requiring significant repairs. Larson's No. 5 suffered damage late in the race and finished last. Logano (DNF) finished 39th, Custer (DNF) 38th, Blaney (DNF) 37th and Wallace 36th.
William Byron's No. 24 car had to have a bent tie rod replaced, and it was determined that the car could not be repaired, ending his day. He finished Sunday's race in 35th place.
While the No. 54 car of Ty Gibbs was able to run after the restart, his front tire blew out a few minutes later and he crashed into the wall. This was due to damage caused in the initial accident. He ended the day in the 34th minute.
