DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: A massive 19-car accident occurred with 16 laps left in Monday’s rain-postponed Daytona 500 wiping several contenders from the chance at winning the Great American Race.
As the lead pack roared down the backstretch, Brad Keselowski got turned after his Ford contingent got aggressive with a push that came courtesy Joey Logano who pushed Aric Almirola who then hooked Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford Mustang.
Keselowski’s car turned into the Turn 3 wall and a chain reaction accident quickly followed.
Drivers in the accident included Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, outside Daytona 500 pole-sitter Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Justin Haley, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Darrell Wallace Jr.
The incident showed similarity to the Feb. 9 Busch Clash exhibition race at Daytona where Keselowski was eliminated in an aggressive blocking move trigged by his Team Penske teammate Logano.
“Instantly spun out,” Keselowski said. “I had Ryan (Newman) in front of me, I think I was about to push him. Lot of kinetic energy there…
“Made one mistake about a lap earlier. Christopher Bell was doing a great job of pushing (Newman), I didn’t think they’d have a strong a run as they did, and they just got by me there on the bottom. I should have covered that better and I didn’t. It’s my fault, I kind of put myself in position for that.”
Jimmie Johnson who finished 35th in his final Daytona 500 as a full-time driver said the “Big One” was inevitable.
“That No. 22 car (Joey Logano) had been pretty aggressive all day long,” he said. “I just felt like it was a matter of time before his pushes were a little much and it looks like that was the case there.”
Offered Kurt Busch, “There was just guys wrecking and the 21(Matt DiBenedetto) came back across, and we ended up knocking the oil cooler out of our No. 1 Monster Energy Chevy.
“The car was handling good; the guys put a lot of work into it. The random roulette wheel took our number today and we didn’t get to the end. Lady Luck was not on our side.”
The eighth caution of the race spawned the second of three red flags in the 62nd annual Daytona 500. The field was paused for 12 minutes, five seconds.
At the same time, defending NASCAR Cup Series Kyle Busch dropped off the pace with an engine failure. He later went to the garage and finished 34th.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
