Sunday’s NASCAR race at Talladega made headlines for its largest crash yet, involving 28 cars and affecting multiple playoff contenders. However, the spotlight quickly shifted to criticism of the sport’s Damaged Vehicle Policy, which, in this instance, was seen as compromising driver safety and well-being.
After 185 laps of mostly smooth racing, Sunday evening saw Talladega’s biggest crash unfold. It all began when Austin Cindric, while leading, pulled too far ahead in the draft. In an effort to close the gap, Brad Keselowski, with help from Joey Logano, miscalculated and sent the No. 2 Penske Toyota spinning wildly into the pack, triggering the massive wreck.
When the smoke cleared, 28 cars were marked as damaged. However, drivers like Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe remained in their cars after the crash, fearing an automatic disqualification in case they stepped out. This is a result of NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy, which states that drivers who exit from their cars during a race will be disqualified from the race.
The situation grew increasingly chaotic when NASCAR unexpectedly switched from a red flag to a yellow, suggesting a resumption of the race. However, the pace car remained stationary, and repairs commenced on the pit road, creating further confusion.
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Logano, who won in the first playoff round, told the media at the track after being cleared from the infield car center. He said:
“Everyone just gets more aggressive at the end of the races.
“The No. 2 got out there a little bit more than what he has been. The No. 21 gave me a shove, and I transferred that to the No. 6. You can’t see what’s in front of you from there. He got to the No. 2 with a fair amount of steam; it’s nobody’s fault, it’s not Brad’s fault, it’s not anybody’s fault. It’s the product of the races we’ve got. Everyone gets more and more aggressive as the laps wind down. It happens; it happens a lot.”
He added:
“I didn’t feel it go up, but I had some stuff broken too so it’s kind of hard to say if the lift system worked or not. But it’s kind of comical. I get out of the car, and I just see a bunch of cars that after a red flag we’ve been sitting there for 10 minutes. Everyone’s just sitting there hoping they can roll a little bit. It’s just goofy.”
Joey Logano says he’s at a loss over how to superspeedway race with this generation of car and called the DVP towing process ‘comical’ pic.twitter.com/Y8GngJ9bAK
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) October 6, 2024
On the other hand, Josh Berry chose to address the situation sarcastically. He said:
“All I know, is that all those cars parked in Turn 3 better not get towed to pit road buddy. Because that’d be breaking the Damaged Vehicle Policy.
“F***ing 42 car is out there doing burnouts, slinging rubber all over the safety workers trying to get going. But if you have four flat tires and you get towed to pit road, you’re done right?”