DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: The dreaded “Big One” erupted early in Sunday’s Daytona 500 eliminating several contenders and pre-race favorites in the “Great American Race.”
The crash started at the front of the field when third-place runner Christopher Bell received a tap from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch – the bump from Busch was enough to turn second-place driver Aric Almirola who spun in front of the track and triggered a massive accident that collected more than a dozen cars.
Among the casualties included pole-sitter Alex Bowman, Duel winner Aric Almirola, outside pole sitter William Byron, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Erik Jones, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez and Martin Truex Jr.,
Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Jones, Newman, Ragan and Suárez were immediately retired from the event. 16 of the 40 starters were involved.
Dubbed as one of the sleepers of the 63rd annual Daytona 500, Almirola said drivers were pushing too hard, too early.
“We were just getting pushed too hard too early,” said Almirola. “It’s a long, long race. Man, we were in a fine position, just sitting there riding around in the top two, three and the 20 just came with a big run and hit me really hard in a bad spot and it turned me to the right and tore up our race car and ended our Daytona 500 way too early.”
Ragan in one a one-race deal with Front Row Motorsports said, “It’s just unfortunate to have a bunch of tore up race cars that early. I’ve never met a driver that said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna start this 500-mile race and just be super-aggressive.’
“We all talk about give and take and making it to the end, but it seems nobody does that once they get out there. It’s frustrating that everybody is pushing and shoving and I just saw the 48 get turned and whenever someone wrecks in the top five or six it tears up a lot of cars.”
Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman who replaced the retired Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet overcame a series of issues during his Duel Thursday night saw his fifth Daytona 500 end after just 37.5 miles.
“It looks like the No. 10 (Aric Almirola) kind of got turned sideways there and I was the guy that got ran into,” said Bowman. ”Bummer – I hate it for Ally. Obviously, we had a really fast Camaro. The Chevrolet’s were working good together; hopefully, a Chevy still ends up in Victory Lane.”
“Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports; they built some really fast race cars. Hate that superspeedway racing works out that way sometimes, but that’s just part of the game.”
Newman who left last year’s Daytona 500 in an ambulance after a horrific last-lap crash will likely be back home in North Carolina before the 2021 version is complete.
“Somebody crashed in the outside row in front of us and we had nowhere to go and I got hit from some place. I had the wreck missed but got hit from some place and that was the end of our day.
“I just feel bad for Kohler Generators jumping on board and getting wrecked out of the Daytona 500 so early, but unfortunately that’s part of racing. I just wish we could have had some better results.”
Erik Jones in his Richard Petty Motorsports debut offered his take, “Unfortunate end for the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team in the Daytona 500; it’s not what we were hoping for by any means. The No. 43 Armor All Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was fast to start.
“We had raced up there into the top-10 and I think we were just outside of it when the big wreck started. Bummed, but there’s 35 more races left this season to go back out and make up for it. We’ll work hard to try and make these points up here as we go and move onto the Daytona Road Course next week.”
While under caution for cleanup, heavy rain began to fall pausing the race after just 20 minutes and 42 seconds.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
