NASCAR gets its 1st wreck of the season
Technically, the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season hasn’t started yet, but drivers are already wrecking on the race track.
Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, drivers hit the 2.5-mile track for practice ahead of Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash, a 75-lap exhibition event one week before the season-opening Daytona 500.
While practicing drafting Saturday morning – the first practice session for Cup Series drivers in the days leading up to the 500 – Chase Elliott was riding in the outside lane with his No. 9 Chevrolet. When he tried to move to the bottom of the track, there wasn’t enough room, so he fell to the middle lane and dropped way back in the group before hitting Ryan Newman in the No. 6 Ford and eventually hit the wall.
The No. 9 car created a ripple effect and collected Newman, while also forcing Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Ford to rear-end Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota. All four cars suffered varying levels of damage.
As FOX Sports’ Jeff Gordon explained on the TV broadcast, teams generally bring three cars to Daytona International Speedway. So if these teams have to move to a backup car for the Clash on Sunday, they’ll have to get another one in the next week to have a backup car for the Daytona 500.
Elliott and Hamlin will go to their backup cars, while Harvick and Newman will not, per FOX Sports.
Here’s a look at the wreck in slow motion, showing that Harvick, Hamlin and Newman were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Afterward, Elliott explained that he was trying to move to the inside of the track, but as he did, the gap he was eyeing closed. He told FOX Sports:
“Aric (Almirola) and I were trying to get up to speed, and he got to the bottom. And I thought, ‘All right, I’ll go to the bottom.’ Well, that hole closed up, so I was just gonna kind of ride it out in the middle and fall to the back. …
“Felt bad. If it was my fault, I apologize. Yeah, looks like I crowded (Newman). Certainly not a good way to start the week. Hopefully we won’t tear anything else up.”
The Clash is at 3 p.m. ET Sunday at Daytona International Speedway on FS1, following qualifying for the Daytona 500.