AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott trigger massive crash at Talladega

The Big One is as inevitable at Talladega Superspeedway as sunrise.This particular Big One occurred on lap 169 of Sunday’s GEICO 500, and it was large indeed. Eighteen drivers — almost half the field — were involved.

At the center of the latest conflagration at NASCAR’s biggest track were AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott. In a crowded drafting pack, Allmendinger tried to bump-draft Elliott, whose car was already a bit loose. The result was calamitous, as Elliott’s Chevrolet turned right and climbed the outside wall, creating a junkyard behind him.

Allmendinger’s car turned onto its side and then onto its roof as cars crashed around him. Also involved were Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth, changing the face of the race for the closing laps.

“Once I got to Chase I got loose,” Allmendinger said. “I barely tapped him. I tried to get off him at that point. It was too late. It’s Talladega. I’m not a big fan of it. You’re up front, and you’ve got a chance to go for it, and racing happens.”

Allmendinger and Elliott, among others, were checked at the infield medical center after the accident. There were no injuries. After leaving the care center, Allmendinger and Elliott had a short discussion.

“He just apologized,” Elliott said of Allmendinger. “I don’t know that it was really his fault, per se. He had a big run and kind of got to my bumper and was in a bad spot. He was skewed a little to my left rear. When that happens, it just unloads these cars too much.”

Martin Truex Jr. was among the drivers who parked after the crash.

“We got shuffled to the outside one time there and got in a bad spot, and then they started wrecking,” he said. “It’s a shame; it’s the way it goes here.”

With cars and parts spread across the track, NASCAR stopped the race for cleanup. The red-flag period lasted almost 27 minutes.