Almost as soon as the NASCAR Sprint Cup GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway ended Sunday (under caution due to another multicar crash), the critics took to the internet. That’s because as NASCAR races on NASCAR’s biggest and fastest speedway go, Sunday’s race was particularly messy.
There wasn’t just one of the infamous, and legendary, Talladega “Big Ones”, the multicar crashes that typically occur; Sunday there were several.
In fact 35 of the 40 cars entered in Sunday’s race suffered damage ranging from minor to severe enough to be done for the day. Seventeen cars had an early end to their day, including NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., a six-time Talladega winner. His hopes for a seventh win ended on lap 50 when he spun and crashed. He would return but had a steering wheel pop off then endured a final crash that ended his day.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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