Restrictor-plate tracks are known for the expected unexpecteds of NASCAR racing.
You know there’s going to be a tornado of activity at some point, but you have absolutely no clue when or where it’s going to strike, and who is going to sustain the kind of damage that will put them out of commission.
Drivers say they love these tracks — what else are they going to say? — but the vast majority loathe Talladega and Daytona. But fans turn out and tune in for those unexpecteds mentioned above.
So in the final 50 laps of each restrictor-plate race, like the one to be held in Talladega on Sunday, one can be sure you will see carnage. That’s the only guarantee though. Will it happen with 40 laps remaining, or 40 yards remaining of the final lap? Will it happen once or five times?
Nobody knows. Here’s a look at five of the most spectacular Talladega wrecks since the safer barriers were added around 20 years ago.
As Kurt Busch continued to rebuild his career after Penske jettisoned him, he first went to low-budget Finch Racing and then improved slightly when he went to Furniture Row Racing. While driving the No. 78 car, this happened.
Our first glimpse of what was to come with Brad Keselowski was when he won his first career race, bumping Carl Edwards from in contention for the win to flying in the air at nearly 200 miles per hour. Edwards hit the catch fence, which held firm (thank goodness). Watching it live was eye-popping.
Elliott Sadler flew and rolled and it looked pretty nasty, but thankfully his car was able to slow down naturally, on its own, instead of slamming into a wall. But there’s no question this was one of the more jaw-dropping wrecks NASCAR has ever seen.
It started with your standard bumping on the track but in the end? Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart locked horns and Stewart ended up flipping around like one of those old 1980s-era slinky toys.
Matt Kenseth went airborne after running into Danica Patrick, and the car didn’t seem to want to stop flying in the air for half of the backstretch.
All I can say is, thank goodness for safer barriers and safer cars in general. When you watch these clips, you wonder how people escape these wrecks, but these days they do.
On February 17, Ubisoft released a trailer that confirmed that NASCAR would be included in The Crew Motorfest’s next season update. Details were limited at the time, but in a press release issued today, Ubisoft revealed the full details of the update ahead of its March 4 launch.
Ubisoft says drafting will affect car speed and help save fuel, implying that drafting will be a huge factor in the game, at least with these cars. You can check out this and much more on Ubisoft’s official post linked below
Earlier this Tuesday, the official The Crew Motorfest account clarified confusion around the NASCAR bundles. The Crew Credit (CC) bundles only include cosmetic team liveries, not additional cars. The 3 base Next Gen cars (Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Toyota Camry XSE, and Chevrolet ZL1) are part of the free Season 9 update and can be purchased separately.
Mitch Rasmussen, NASCAR’s Senior Director of Interactive, said in the press release:
We’re excited to bring our iconic brand to life in The Crew Motorfest. This collaboration represents another important step in our strategy to bring NASCAR into the digital spaces and places where next generation fans spend their time, giving players new ways to interact with the culture and communities they love.
The content arrives as part of Year 3 Season 9 and is officially licensed by NASCAR. You can watch the first trailer and learn more in the article linked below
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Four road courses on the schedule, and somehow that’s enough to spark one of the biggest debates in the garage. After recent comments from Brad Keselowski questioning the business value of road racing, the conversation has picked up serious steam. Is NASCAR leaning too far into it, or is the current balance about right?
There are valid points on both sides, from sponsorship realities to fan traditions to competitive diversity. Some tracks have gained traction. Others have struggled. The question isn’t just whether road courses belong, but how many make sense within a 36-race season. It’s less about extremes and more about direction. And with future schedule changes always looming, this debate probably isn’t settled anytime soon.
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Corey Day’s run-in with Connor Zilisch at Circuit of the Americas became one of the most discussed incidents from Saturday’s race, even drawing a response from Denny Hamlin as well, who this week talked about his support for Zilisch.
During the race, Zilisch dealt with brake trouble on his No. 1 Chevrolet but worked his way forward from the rear of the field, advancing from P29 to P4 in the closing laps. With five laps remaining, he engaged in a battle with Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day as they exited Turn 2, holding the outside line. But as they contested the position, Day moved up behind him, contact occurred, and Zilisch spun off course to finish the race in P21.
After the contact, frustrated, Connor Zilisch initially referred to Day as an “absolute hack” on his radio, describing the clash as part of the latter’s racing pattern. But the JR Motorsports driver later tempered his comments, simply saying he expects an apology from the young Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Given that Zilisch declined to escalate the situation, on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin credited him for calmly managing his response after the race, saying,
“Zillich was smart about this. He in his interview, he’s like, “I looked over at him thinking, come on over here. Come apologize.” And he said he just looked at him with a stare like, I don’t know what it is with these guys. Why, Why can’t they… youth?”
However, he questioned Day’s failure to issue an immediate apology. In fact, he said he was “floored” by Corey Day’s reaction, which involved staring at a frustrated Zilisch rather than apologizing.
The No. 11 JGR driver also raised questions about how Hendrick Motorsports evaluates developing drivers. Organizations invest with the expectation of returns measured in wins and titles, but when a driver continues to make visible mistakes, fans and especially other drivers will start to scrutinize. Hamlin pointed to the balance between development and production, asking how long it would hold.
The COTA incident was not the first time Day’s racing antics were questioned. Last week, during the Atlanta race, Day was involved in a multi-car crash on lap five after attempting a three-wide move that resulted in contact with Ryan Sieg. The move triggered a chain reaction that collected several cars.
Sieg responded over team radio, questioning both the decision and Day’s presence in the series.
Hamlin argued that drivers are allowed to make mistakes as part of growth. At teams with front-running equipment and title ambitions, time frames are shorter. But he questioned whether Day faces a deadline by season’s end or whether the assessment extends into the following year.
In Day’s case, results have not offset the incidents that have drawn attention. Hamlin referenced Kyle Larson as an example, noting that aggressive driving can lead to contact as well as wins.
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