The Coca-Cola 600 is NASCAR’s longest race, but the race didn’t last long for two of the favorites to win. Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski ran into a chain reaction crash after Jeffrey Earnhardt’s engine failed on lap 19. A piece of Earnhardt’s car punctured the oil pan of Elliott’s machine, causing a fire under the hood, and when Keselowski hit the oil from the No. 24, he slammed into the back of Elliott.
Both drivers were okay; their cars were not so lucky. Both had to be towed to the garage, and Earnhardt was also done for the night due to the engine failure.
Keselowski gave his version of events after climbing from his car.
“Somebody broke and there was just oil everywhere and I couldn’t turn”, Keselowski explained. “I ran into the back of Chase. Somebody broke in front of him and then he ran over what they broke and then he broke, so there were two cars broke in front of me and just oil everywhere. You couldn’t stop and turn. You couldn’t do anything.
“It’s a real bummer for our team. We had a really fast Miller Lite Ford and I think we had a shot at winning tonight, but that’s how it goes.”
Elliott shared in Keselowski’s disappointment.
“Our NAPA Chevy was going to be all right as the night went along,” Elliott said. “The No. 33 (Jeffrey Earnhardt) car or whoever it was, broke something ahead of me and ended up hitting it. I hit it pretty hard. I knew it had hurt our nose at least, then I saw some flames and figured we were laying down oil too, I guess. Brad (Keselowski) couldn’t get stopped and ended up kind of finishing us off, but it was a bummer. I hate it.
“I don’t really know what you do about stuff like that. Just move on.”
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.