What's NASCAR's biggest modern-era wreck? Exploring the Talladega chaos that wiped over half the championship contenders

NASCAR witnessed its biggest modern-era wreck at the YellaWood 500 race held on October 6, 2024, at the Talladega Superspeedway. With the wreck causing the race to go overtime, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race by edging out Brad Keselowski and playoff William Byron by six thousand of a second.

The wreck happened five laps before this dramatic win, collecting 28 cars on the track and making it the biggest wreck of modern-era NASCAR racing. The crash affected eight playoff drivers from the round of 12, leading to a ten-minute hold on the race after a red flag was issued.

The wreck collected playoff drivers including Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, and Christopher Bell. The wreck took place at the backstretch of NASCAR's longest track, primarily triggered by Austin Cindric.

It began when the #38 driver Todd Gilliland started slowing down which started a chain reaction. #22 driver Joey Logano made contact with #6 Keselowski's car, and within seconds he bumped into Cindric. This made Cindric lose control of the car and caused the mess.

The aftermath of the wreck for the NASCAR playoff drivers

Austin Cindric, the #2 Team Penske driver, was "incredibly frustrated" due to the damage caused to his playoff standings by the wreck. He was in the top five cars when the wreck took place, and this led to him finishing in P32 and only earning 17 points. His teammate Joey Logano finished one place next to him.

Logano ended up in P33 while he was also in the top five cars at the time of the crash. He only earned four points, and this caused a major fall in his standings, moving him to ninth place and 13 points shy of the qualification line.

Chase Briscoe, racing his last season in Stewart Haas Racing's kit, finished in P30 and fell to the last rank of the round of 12 drivers. He only earned ten points at the Talladega Superspeedway, lacking 32 points from the qualification line.

After the wreck, Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliot finished in 29th place and earned only 17 points. He ranks eighth in the playoff standings with just a 13-point buffer from the qualification line. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell only took fixable damage in the race and finished in sixth place, earning 37 points and maintaining his rank in the playoff standings.

Chase Elliot's teammate also suffered repairable damage and finished in P16, earning 26 points and maintaining his fifth rank in the standings. Daniel Suarez also suffered the biggest wreck of modern-era racing and finished in 26th place, earning 11 points and moving in the bubble in the playoff standings, lacking 20 points to qualify for the next round.

23XI Racing team driver Tyler Reddick also managed to make a comeback from the accident and finished in P20. He earned 22 points at NASCAR's longest track and moved to seventh place in the playoff standings with a buffer of 14 points from the qualifying line.