When cars are racing two and three wide throughout any NASCAR race, the chances for multi-car crashes increase greatly. Such was the case at EchoPark Speedway on Sunday, February 22 when 38 NASCAR Cup Series took to the 1.5-mile track for 260 laps.
Since the turns were raised from 24 to 28 degrees of banking in 2021, the racing has produced drafting and dicing for positions to take the checkered flag. The inevitable cautions that did take place Sunday produced carnage and disappointment for some top runners.
Multi-Car Crash Takes out Top Contenders Early
On lap 82 in Stage 1, the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Ty Gibbs was spun in Turn 3. He would bounce of his JGR teammate of Christopher Bell and hit the wall head on. This caused the No. 21 Ford of Josh Berry to crash where he spun into the infield and caught the grass on fire.
Also collected were JGR’s Denny Hamlin, the No. 35 of Riley Herbst, Cole Custer of HAAS Factory Team, John Hunter Nemechek and BJ McLeod.
“I guess the 20 (Christopher Bell) made a three-wide bottom move, and I was already rolling the middle on (Josh) Berry and we all collided,” Gibbs said. “Not ideal. It definitely sucks but we will keep digging.”
Austin Dillon Gets Dumped to Cause Another Big Crash
It was on Lap 103 when the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Austin Dillon got tapped from behind while running 18th. As he spun in Turn 2, the No. 35 of Herbst was the first car collected and was followed by the No. 47 Chevrolet of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Stenhouse, Jr. received so much damage he could barely drive it further. As a result, he and Herbst registered DNFs finishing 35th and 36th, respectively. Also, involved were Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland and McLeod who DNFd out to finish 34th.
“I couldn’t really see a lot in front of me,” Stenhouse, Jr. said. “All of a sudden, the No. 35 (Herbst) turned sideways in front of us. I locked up my brakes as hard as I could, but our No. 47 Chef Boyardee Chevrolet just came to a stop.
“We were having some fueling issues and that’s just what kind of got us back further than where we wanted to be. We’ll have to go take a look at that. But I was having a blast. It’s a lot of fun out there.
“We made a few changes that I felt made our Chevy way better. We worked our way back up there in the later part of Stage Two, so bummed how it ended.”
Kyle Busch Gets Spun Out of the Race, Blames Noah Gragson
The No. 8 Chevrolet of Kyle Busch was exiting Turn 2 on Lap 125 when the No. 4 Ford of Noah Gragson made contact with his back bumper. This sent the Chevrolet to the inside hitting the inside backstretch wall hard enough to eliminate Busch from the race and a 32nd place finish.
“I just didn’t have the best of exits off of Turn Two and I was a little crooked getting to the wall,” Busch said.” I just got rammed by the No. 4 (Noah Gragson); no check-up or anything. He didn’t give me an opportunity to make sure I was straight before hitting me. He didn’t get into me gently to just try and get the momentum back going again. He just drove right through me.
“It sucks for this No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet team and everyone at Richard Childress Racing. I thought we had a really good Chevy. We definitely would have finished better than where we were.”
Larson Spins from Top 5, into Outside Wall and Out of Race
Larson had his No. 5 Chevrolet battling for third with SVG on Lap 160. As they exited Turn 4, Larson came down into SVG sending him through the infield grass. The No. 5 Chevrolet went down the track, then up and into the outside wall making contact with right front and rear.
The damage was significant enough it needed to be towed to the garage where he registered a DNF and 32nd-place finish.
“I just messed up. I knew the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) was inside of me at one point of the corner, but I got clear of him,” Larson said. “I didn’t quite realize that the No. 97 (Shane van Gisbergen) had gotten inside of him. So once I was clear, I just wanted to cut distance and short-cut my way to the stage finish.
“The No. 97 was out of my mirror. I just hung a quick left and ran right into him. There was nothing anyone else did wrong, it was all on me. I know we crashed, but I feel like we are still getting better and better when we come to drafting tracks, especially here at Atlanta.”
Multi-Car Wrecks Take Out NASCAR Contenders in Atlanta