NASCAR red-flagged Sunday’s Cup race with 51 laps to go, following a vicious impact by both Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell.
While battling for second, Elliott got loose underneath Bell into Turn 3, before snapping to the right and into the door of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Bell slammed the outside wall with Elliott, breaking the SAFER Barrier. Elliott’s car then slid down the track, and his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hit a tire pack lining the inside wall as well.
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Both cars were completely destroyed, but thankfully, Elliott and Bell promptly climbed out of their mangled cars and embraced. Elliott had just won Stage 2 before the race-ending crash.
Kyle Larson’s car was also struck by flying debris, with what appeared to be a side window hitting the roof of his No. 5 car.
The wall was visibly dented inward, and the race could not continue until repairs were made. It took about 20 minutes to fix that section of wall.
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Elliott/Bell ended up being the tenth caution of the race, already tying the 2006 record with still 50 laps of racing remaining in the event.
Elliott reacts to huge crash, explains what went wrong
After being released from the infield care center, Elliott spoke to the gathered media, which included Motorsport.com.
“I feel okay,” said Elliott. “I just really, really hate that happened, first and foremost. I want to apologize to Bell and the whole 20 team. That was my fault. I ran on the bottom, got loose, thought I was going to spin, and I had kind of committed to spinning out and just hoping I could spin, basically. And as soon as I started to commit to spinning out, it hooked a right, and unfortunately, he was out there. So it was definitely a big one. I knew that he kind of took the brunt of it, I felt like, in that, so yeah, I definitely just hate it. Hate that it happened. Hate that it happened to anybody, but certainly — he races me with a lot of respect, and it was nothing intentional. I just stepped over the line and over-corrected.
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Answering a question from Motorsport.com, Elliott added: “I mean, it was a huge hit. Huge hit for him. Pretty big hit for me, too. So I just knew that when it happened. And when you’re watching the wall come that quick, it’s going to be large. I knew he’d already hit the wall hard, too, before I hit him. So those things happen fast, but I saw it happen. I knew it was big, so I just wanted to make sure he was alright and just tell him ‘I’m so sorry,’ because that was not at all my intention for that to happen.”
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