DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: The rain-delayed Daytona 500 suffered its first casualties just five laps into the “Great American Race” on Monday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
On the top lane of the race track, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski made contact with the No. 42 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camry of John Hunter Nemechek, which caused the No. 42 to lose control of his race car briefly and collide with the No. 21 Ford Mustang of Harrison Burton who collected Spire Motorsports rookie Carson Hocevar along the way.
Burton’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang spun through the infield frontstretch before drifting back onto the race track and was struck by the cars of Kaz Grala and Austin Dillon.
Burton’s mangled Ford Mustang came to rest on the frontstretch, while Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was stuck in the soggy infield grass.
Grala and Dillon left the accident scene under their own power. Grala’s race was over after turning into the NASCAR Cup Series garage.
The Richard Childress Racing team was able to make repairs to Dillon’s No. 3 BASS Pro Shops Chevrolet to make minimum speed. Still, shortly after the ensuing restart, the former Daytona 500 champion went to the garage for suspension and other vehicle repairs.
Burton, who noted earlier in the week that 2024 was a make-or-break season, continues to suffer hardship in the season-opening Cup race.
“I don’t remember exactly who it was on my outside,” said Burton. “It just looked like they either got a bad push or got loose and just hit me in the right side and sent me across. The grass was so wet that once I got in the grass I thought I’d be OK, but the car just kept going and going, so really sad that our day is over as quick as it was.
“We had a really fast DEX Imaging | Motorcraft Ford Mustang. It’s just a bummer. There’s nothing we can do but just move on and try to win next week.”
Grala, who qualified for this year’s Daytona 500 based on his performance in Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacation Duel race, noted he was also unsure about what triggered the crash.
“I’m not sure,” explained Grala. “Two cars wrecked, it looked like, through the tri-oval grass and just rolled right back up into traffic, and, unfortunately, there was nowhere that we could go. It’s pretty disappointing to end our day that early.
“It feels like we didn’t get a chance to race at all today. I’m disappointed that we’ll have to wait another year to go again in the Daytona 500 and that’s hoping I get an opportunity.”
Burton added that drivers trying to conserve may have played a role in the accident.
“Fuel saving definitely stacks up a little bit and the leaders fuel saving puts that third lane into play,” Burton said. “I’m OK. The hit was probably harder than it should have been, just coming back across the field like that.
“It’s a pretty helpless feeling, but I’m OK. I felt fine. All good. I’m just over wrecking early, that’s for sure.”
In his first Daytona 500, Carson Hocevar will finish last in 40th.
“I didn’t really see anything. I was just going where I could go. Just a bummer.. bummer for my No. 77 Gainbridge | Zeigler Auto Group Chevy team,” sounded Hocevar
“There’s a lot of people here from Gainbridge and Zeigler here, and I wanted to be able to put on a good showing. Just really disappointing to have our race end early.”
Hocevar, driving a third Spire Motorsports entry as a Trackhouse Racing driver, said he had little time to react to the spinning cars.
“It happened right in my lap,” added Hocevar. “I tried my best not to slide across the grass, but obviously, with two-plus days of rain, it’s going to be really slick. It felt like I was all alone, sliding across the grass and just hoping that nobody hit me. It’s just unfortunate that was the case.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
