Until the 2000s, massive crashes were referred to as "major"[1][2][3] or "terrific"[4] crashes.
By the mid-1990s, competitors and media began taking note of the multi-car wrecks at Daytona and Talladega. In 1997, Dale Earnhardt described a final-lap crash at the 1997 Pepsi 400 as "the Big Wreck".[5] News articles began using the term "Big Wreck" to describe such crashes in 1998,[6] and by 1999, its use was widespread. Drivers began to openly admit they were apprehensive of its possibility.[7]
One of the first times the term "The Big One" was used on-air was during the Winston 500 on ESPN October 11, 1998. Commentator Bob Jenkins said during the crash on lap 134 "This is the big one that we had hoped we would not have."[8] One of the first published instances of the term "The Big One," was an April 18, 2000, article on ESPN.com about a crash in the DieHard 500.[9] The term was also being used informally by fans on message boards.
During the 2001 Daytona 500, Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip used the term on-air to describe an 18-car crash in the backstretch on lap 173, as saying "It's the big one, gang, it's the big one. It's what we've all been fearing in this kind of racing is going to happen."[10]
By 2001, the phrase was widely used by competitors, fans, and in print and broadcast media.[11] It soon became standard NASCAR vernacular, and it became a retronym to describe past such accidents as well.[12][13]
The Big One has been the subject of criticism of NASCAR.[13] Some have complained that the sanctioning body, promoters and media have celebrated the crashes.[13]
By 2009, Talladega Superspeedway marketed itself on the notorious crashes, with hot dogs, and later meatballs billed as "The Big One," with activities on Friday night after on-track action concludes billed as "The Big One on Talladega Boulevard".[14]
On the back straightaway on lap 173, fifth-place Robby Gordon got into the back of fourth-place Ward Burton, turning Burton left into third-place Tony Stewart's right rear. Stewart's car went straight into the wall, catching air, landing on its side on top of Gordon's car, and tumbling across the track while getting hit by other cars. The car briefly landed on top of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte before falling onto the track and rolling to a stop in the infield grass. Burton's and Stewart's cars blocked the track, starting a chain reaction crash that collected 18 cars in total, including Burton, Stewart, Labonte, Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Steve Park, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Jerry Nadeau, Jason Leffler, Elliott Sadler, John Andretti, Jeff Burton, Andy Houston, Jeff Gordon, Kenny Wallace, Buckshot Jones, and Dale Jarrett. This crash, however, was later overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap. Incidentally, Earnhardt had narrowly escaped being caught up in the lap 173 crash, nearly being hit by the spinning Ward Burton.[15]
On lap 189, the last lap of a green-white-checker restart following Jamie McMurray's spin with five laps to go, Tony Stewart tried to block the advancing draft of Michael Waltrip and Casey Mears in turn four. As Stewart moved down to block Waltrip, he was passed on the outside by Matt Kenseth (the only car ahead of the crash; would go on to win the race). Stewart came across the front of Waltrip's car, turned sideways, and spun up into the pack, collecting 24 other cars (25 in all): Waltrip, Mears, Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Sam Hornish Jr., Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Regan Smith, Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex Jr., David Gilliland, Terry Labonte, Landon Cassill, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch. Stewart's car went upside down and landed on top of Kahne, Menard, and Bowyer before flipping back over and coming to rest at the exit of turn four. Gordon and Kyle Busch escaped the wreck on the apron with only minor damage to finish in second and third place, respectively. Most of the cars were caught in the initial pileup; however, five cars (Keselowski, Truex, Bobby Labonte, Cassill, and Gilliland) were swept up as the others cars began the spin down into the infield and another (Hamlin) spun out by himself and sustained front-end damage. Travis Kvapil, Greg Biffle, and Ryan Newman avoided the wreck at the back of the pack to take top-ten finishes.[20][21][22] Following this crash, Earnhardt Jr., who had taken a few hard hits in the crash, was diagnosed with a concussion, requiring him to sit out the next two races (Charlotte and Kansas). He was replaced by Regan Smith at both of them.[23]
On lap 36, going through the tri-oval, Matt Kenseth attempted to move to the inside to carry his momentum around the slightly slower car of Brad Keselowski; however, he didn't have enough room and was turned by Joey Logano. As Kenseth came back up the track, he collected Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stewart and Gordon ended up pinned against the wall, with Busch's front end under Gordon's car and Stenhouse's front end under Busch's car. Danica Patrick spun out while trying to miss both the larger crash and the spinning car of Edwards, but she did not hit anything. As her car came to a stop, she was t-boned by the accelerating Stenhouse, who couldn't see because of front-end damage and was trying to make it back to the garage. Kevin Harvick was also involved in the crash, but his damage was only from running through debris.[24]
On lap 161, Kurt Busch attempted to give Johnson a push going into turn 1, which sent Johnson into the outside wall and back into traffic, collecting an additional twenty cars, including Greg Biffle, Kyle Larson, Dillon (his second crash of the afternoon, as was Johnson's), Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman.
On lap 181, Michael McDowell bumped into Danica Patrick, sending her into Matt Kenseth, sending Kenseth into the air and the inside wall before he flipped back over. While this took place, McDowell slid up into the outside, catching Aric Almirola, sending him spinning down into Joey Logano. This crash involved 12 cars, many of whom had already taken damage from the lap 161 crash.
On the last lap, headed through the tri-oval, when Landon Cassill hooked Cole Whitt into Kevin Harvick, sending Harvick into the outside wall and into Ricky Stenhouse Jr., putting Harvick on his side before landing back on four wheels. Also collected were Martin Truex Jr. and A. J. Allmendinger as Brad Keselowski crossed the line to take the win. In total, 35 of the 40 cars received some damage during the race, and the first lapped car at the end of the race was Johnson, who finished six laps behind in 22nd.[26]
On Lap 169, as A. J. Allmendinger tried to bump draft Chase Elliott down the backstretch, Allmendinger inadvertently rammed into Elliott, and both cars went airborne off Turn 2, turning Allmendinger over (after contact from Joey Logano), and collected an additional 15 cars including Erik Jones, Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon, Matt Kenseth, and Danica Patrick. Others in the wreck, including Brad Keselowski, were able to beat the five-minute crash clock under NASCAR's new damaged vehicle policy to rally and finish 7th in the race.[30][31] The race was red-flagged while crews extricated Allmendinger from his car.
On Lap 54, on the backstretch, William Byron blocked Brad Keselowski, causing him to slow. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., however, failed to do the same, ramming into Keselowski's bumper and sending him into the outside wall and collecting 26 cars. This was one of two big wrecks set off by Stenhouse, who would later have to be escorted by security after the race for protection due to the negative backlash.[34]
On lap 65, following the restart for the previous crash, Stenhouse attempted to side draft Kyle Busch, resulting in Stenhouse Jr. clipping Busch and shooting his car up into the wall, collecting seven cars in total, including William Byron, Trevor Bayne, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones (who went on to win), and Corey LaJoie.[35]
With 24 to go, rain began to fall in turns 1 and 2. Race control did not realize it until it was too late. With 23 to go, a big one struck in turn 1 and causing the 7th and final caution of the race. Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suárez, Daniel Hemric, and Justin Haley all got sideways at the exact same time and all spun and the wreck collected a total of 18 cars including a majority of the top 20. Cars slid and spun everywhere due to the lack of grip on the pavement of the track. The wreck collected Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cody Ware, Noah Gragson, and Daniel Suárez. The red flag was soon issued for the weather and lasted for nearly 3 hours and 20 minutes before the race could restart. There were only 17 cars left on track when the race restarted with 16 laps to go.
During the final round of pit stops, leader Todd Gilliland pits with most Ford drivers on Lap 172. On his way to pit lane, he is penalised for speeding entering pit lane, and assessed a pass-through penalty, which he serves solo, a huge disadvantage at drafting circuits, on Lap 174. Without drafting help, he is considerably slower than the drafting pack. On Lap 184, Gilliland is low when the pack led primarily by Fords on the low side and Chevrolets on the high side (Austin Cindric leading low and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. leading high) pass him. As a result of the overtaking, the lead Ford is separated from the other Fords in the low line, splitting the field considerably. As Chase Briscoe passes Gilliland, the wake of the car on the side leads him to bump Harrison Burton, who bumps into Joey Logano, and bumps Brad Keselowski. Keselowski, who was considerably behind Cindric, has a "slam draft" situation where his front bumper and Cindric's rear bumper are not flush (a notorious advantage of Fords with their square noses), slamming Cindric on the backstretch. Cindric's car makes contact with the leader of the high line draft, Stenhouse, damaging his door panel, while Cindric's car contacts Chase Elliott, whose Chevrolet was on the high side. Then Cindric's car contacts the low line of Fords led by Joey Logano, which leads to a 28-car crash. The drivers involved were Cindric, Stenhouse, Elliott, Logano, Gilliland, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, A. J. Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suárez, Corey LaJoie, Josh Berry, Todd Gilliland, Anthony Alfredo, Zane Smith, Martin Truex Jr., Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, Daniel Hemric, Kyle Busch (who hit the wall but did not contact other cars trying to avoid the melee), and Ryan Preece, making it one of the biggest Big Ones in modern NASCAR history. This put the race under a ten lap safety car period that followed an eight-minute red flag, and would then send it into overtime. Stenhouse won despite the damage on his door panel.
On lap 68, a massive melee involving 23 cars erupted in turn one. It started when Kelly Denton rammed into Ken Schrader, spinning Schrader four times before his car burst into flames. The other 22 cars who were trying to evade Schrader got into a huge pile-up when Mike Dillon blew a tire.[40]
In turn 4 on the last lap, leader Kurt Busch attempted to block the two two-car drafts of Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne, and Tony Stewart and Elliott Sadler, both of whom had runs on Busch and drafting partner Kyle Busch. They all made contact, with Kurt Busch ending up sideways against the outside wall, Stewart and Sadler being pinned to the wall by Bayne, and Logano being sent spinning across the track as a result of left-rear contact with Kurt Busch's sideways car. Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both moved to the bottom of the track, but Stenhouse turned Busch into the outside wall as they tried to miss the spinning Logano. A similar fate befell Kasey Kahne and Cole Whitt (who were just behind Busch and Stenhouse), with Kahne moving down into and spinning Whitt. Brad Keselowski, who was behind Whitt, received contact from Kahne and Whitt, causing his car to become out of control. James Buescher, who was 11th when the crash started, got through the crash on the track apron and slipped around Keselowski (as he was trying to regain control of his car) to win, followed by Sadler and Keselowski.[44]
In the trioval, coming to the checkered flag on lap 120, leader Regan Smith was turned into the outside wall by second-place Brad Keselowski. Chaos ensued behind as 14 out of the 15 lead cars crashed in total. After hitting Smith, Keselowski himself was turned around by Sam Hornish Jr. and went up the track in front of Kyle Larson, with Larson being turned sideways after he was hit in the back by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Larson pushed Keselowski's car right-side first into the wall just as two cars (Brian Scott and Justin Allgaier) from behind this crash impacted the right side Larson's car after they had hit the spinning Regan Smith, causing Larson's car to go airborne and fly up into the catchfence. The front tires and the engine of his car were torn out and landed on the spectator side of the fence as part the fence was torn down by the impact of Larson's car. Simultaneously, Elliott Sadler impacted Regan Smith's spinning car, almost causing it to go airborne as well. Also, past the start-finish line, Alex Bowman spun through the infield and across the track, making hard contact with the outside wall. After Bowman hit the wall, Earnhardt Jr. drove under him, jacking the rear of Bowman's car up in the air (very similar to Kyle Busch's crash in the 2009 Coke Zero 400 when Kasey Kahne drove under him). The drivers involved were Smith, Keselowski, Earnhardt, Hornish, Larson, Scott, Bowman, Sadler, Allgaier, Travis Pastrana, Parker Kligerman, Eric McClure, Robert Richardson Jr., and Nelson Piquet Jr. Race winner Tony Stewart cut down through the infield and back up on the track to escape the melee.[45] 28 spectators were injured, 14 of whom were treated at the infield care center and 14 of whom were taken to nearby hospitals, including seven taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, six more being taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Port Orange, and one being taken to another area hospital. Six of those spectators sustained serious injuries.[46]
On lap 57, Kurt Busch and Rob Morgan made contact sending Geoff Bodine's No. 15 truck into the catchfence, destroying it in the process. The crash collected 12 other trucks.
With 37 laps to go, Austin Hill received a push from Todd Gilliland which turned Hill into Zane Smith. Both drivers would hit the outside wall and go back into traffic, collecting 20 other trucks.
A huge 11-car pileup occurred on lap 54, sending Dr. Jack Miller to the hospital with a concussion. Miller's car was engulfed by flames and slammed by several other cars, leaving nothing but a shell of his car when he finally came to a stop near the start-finish line. It would be Miller's final race. The race was under yellow for 35 laps while workers cleaned the track.[51] The inferno of flames was so bright that it was visible on satellite images from space.
On lap 11, Wade Cunningham clipped James Hinchcliffe and then made contact with J. R. Hildebrand,[52] initiating a 15-vehicle collision that killed Dan Wheldon and seriously injured Hildebrand, Pippa Mann, and Will Power.[53] Wheldon was racing at 220 mph (350 km/h) and struck Charlie Kimball while trying to avoid the collision, sending his car airborne. It flew a distance of about 325 ft (99 m) and hit the catch fence cockpit first before landing back on the racing surface and coming to a stop near the SAFER barrier. After Wheldon’s death was told to the participants, the race was abandoned.[54]
After a series of incidents with both the INDYCAR (part of the race was run on one day, then the other half a few months later, largely due to a combination of rain, weepers, and a day-one crash between Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden that injured the latter) and NASCAR (rain and weepers) in 2016, Texas Motor Speedway officials repaved and reconfigured the circuit to reduce weeper issues. On lap 152, Tony Kanaan made contact with James Hinchcliffe, triggering a major collision that forced seven other drivers to leave the race.[55] During the ensuing red flag that followed, INDYCAR officials and Bridgestone engineers agreed to use competition cautions and mandatory tire changes for the remainder of the race in response to continuing issues with blistering tires from the repaved circuit. Kanaan was assessed a 20-second hold penalty for his role in the crash.[56]
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