It was lap 52 when Talladega did what Talladega does best Sunday—turn optimism into twisted sheet metal. Erik Jones gave Noah Gragson one shove too many, sending the No. 4 Ford, leading at the time, up the track and into AJ Allmendinger, who promptly collected Chase Elliott for good measure. Nine cars later, the day was cooked for several—including one playoff driver now staring straight at elimination.
Elliott, already 23 points below the cutline heading into Sunday’s race, saw his season flash before his windshield. Running 19th, he dove low to avoid the chaos in Turn 3 but got tagged from behind by Daniel Suárez. The impact tore up the No. 9 Chevrolet’s nose like it had argued with a guardrail. His day ended on lap 52, officially listed 40th—dead last.
“I saw someone get turned sideways, kind of like normal, and just hoping to get slowed down in time,” Elliott said, standing outside the infield care center looking less than thrilled. “I haven’t seen it back, but I got turned sideways there somehow, some way, and yeah, and hit some more stuff after that.”
If he sounded resigned, it’s because he was. “Stage points are so crucial right now, you know? So I just wasn’t super-surprised everybody was starting to get really aggressive, and unfortunately, yeah, we didn’t make it through.”
The wreck was a nine-car demolition derby that looked more Talladega than tactical. Allmendinger’s Kaulig Chevrolet caught fire after ricocheting off the wall, sliding to a smoky stop at the exit of Turn 4. For a brief moment, it looked like things might be serious—until the 43-year-old climbed out, laid down for a breath, then got up like a man who’d just survived a bad rollercoaster.
“I was just trying to lead both lanes and unfortunately, the outside lane didn’t really have that same plan,” Allmendinger said after being checked and released. “Got turned right up there, right up into the fence… It hurt. It knocked the breath completely out of me… I felt like the car was catching on fire, so got out. Definitely sore on my right side, but I’ll be all right.”
Gragson, meanwhile, looked like a man who’d been mugged by physics. “We executed that pit stop really well and we were up there with Joey,” he said. “He was running second in the bottom lane and I was just trying to control our lane from the lead, and the No. 43 was pushing really hard. You usually get those pushes late in the race in the third stage, but he was just pushing hard. It’s unfortunate.”
Gragson’s analysis was part explanation, part confession: “The back straightaway here is really rough and I was pushed in the wrong area and started wheelbarrowing down the backstretch before he caught me. It just seemed a little bit aggressive in the first stage and we still had nine laps left, so that was definitely a bummer.”
Austin Cindric, another casualty, echoed what every driver was thinking but wouldn’t admit: sometimes Talladega just doesn’t care about your plans.
“We went through the first cycle and it didn’t work out for us,” Cindric said. “I thought we did the right stuff there to get some stage points, that’s our priority. Yeah, so then it was just seeing whether we could get it fixed enough to go back out or not, but we had a steering rack issue so I couldn’t drive it out.”
He added, “I don’t see why not, our Discount Tire Ford Mustang was really fast, and I felt like we positioned ourselves well for the cycle but maybe didn’t have enough cars there.”
When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Elliott’s crew had tried everything short of divine intervention to fix his mangled Chevy. It wasn’t enough. His championship hopes now hang on one thing: winning at Martinsville.
“I’m excited about it,” Elliott said, somehow keeping it positive. “Unless we won today, we were likely going to be in a very similar position next week. I hate it. I don’t know what you do about those situations, right? Like, we weren’t back there doing anything wild or crazy. It just, it turned sideways and slid into the wreck… I wish I could have done something different, but I don’t really know what I would have done.”
He cracked a small grin. “I’m looking forward to Martinsville, though. Got one more shot at it.”
And at this point, one shot is all he’s got.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour 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, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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