DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A insane pace in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola came to crashing halt on Lap 90 of 160 when Jamie McMurray triggered a 22-car accident at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
The “Big One” ignited when Jamie McMurray lost control of his No. 1 Credit One Bank Chevrolet after apparently losing a tire after contact with teammate Kyle Larson. McMurray was tagged by Jimmie Johnson and the cars piled in from behind.
In all, 22 cars were reported in the crash: Michael Annett, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, David Gilliland, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Danica Patrick, David Ragan, Brian Scott, Regan Smith and Cole Whitt.
Scott took the brunt of the incident as he went for a wild ride on top of hood of Harvick’s car.
McMurray said a shove from Johnson sent him into Larson, ultimately cutting his tire and triggering the incident.
“I think somebody might have gotten into my left rear,” said McMurray. “I don’t know if that cut the tire down or what but after I felt that happen, I just didn’t have any control anymore. It seemed like a tire maybe went down and it actually felt like I hit oil. So, once you get to that point you just don’t.
“I think the contact with the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) might have cut the tire because I just didn’t have any control of the car there. It is unfortunate but it is just part of plate racing. I rode back in the ambulance with all those guys and we just talked about it is part of plate racing.”
Harvick who elected to ride at the back of the pack to avoid the “Big One” said he didn’t who he hit, until seeing the replay.
“Our Busch Chevrolet…we started in the middle of the pack and dropped to the back and as we pitted there and we knew we wanted to work our way back to the front,” Harvick said. “We stayed connected to that front pack and then we had a little bit of a handling problem that we had to address during the next pit stop.
“Those guys got tangled up there in front and we were in the middle of it. We had one car on our roof and everybody else just kept piling in. I don’t know who that was. It was just one of those things that just doesn’t take much for it all to go south here at these superspeedways.
“It is what it is.”
Scott who showcased a fast No. 44 Shore Lodge Ford Fusion in practice said the incident looked worse than it felt behind the wheel.
“I didn’t see a lot. I was on the outside and our lane seemed to get a good run entering turn 1 and I saw guys check-up and hands out the windows so I started checking up,” said Scott. “Then the check-up kept going and it became an accordion effect.
“We were in the wall and jacked up and I guess the 4 came up under me and drove underneath my car and then I was up in the air. It was a pinball effect. It is an unfortunate end. You always seem to get those big ones here in the Fourth of July race. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. There was no chance to ever miss that for our 44 Ford.”
As for a solution to preventing the “big one” from happening, Scott offered his thoughts.
“Take restrictor plates off I guess but then we would be going too fast,” he offered. “It is just a product of this type of racing. When you are in the pack and there is one wreck – it looked like it started this time with the 1 and 48, there is no way for people to escape.”
Buescher, Harvick, Smith, Scott, Menard and Johnson were unable to continue the race due to the degree of damage to their race cars.
There were 23 cars remaining on the lead lap when the race returned to green flag conditions on Lap 101 with eventual winner Brad Keselowski in control.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
