For the vast majority of the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega, William Byron had an excellent run. On Sunday (Oct. 13), Byron won stage one before the rains came and ended the festivities for the day. Monday (Oct. 14) saw Byron keep himself toward the front of the field with a chance to win.
Then the bump drafting started.
Byron was given a sizable bump on the backstretch on lap 163 from Kurt Busch. That got Byron loose and bounced him into Joey Logano. From there, the wrecking was on once again. After hitting Logano, Byron was hit by Erik Jones and spun into the outside wall. Logano’s hood blew up and completely blocked his vision. Daniel Suarez, Joey Gase, Matt Crafton (in Paul Menard‘s No. 21), Ryan Preece and Austin Theriault were involved.
Joey Logano almost rolled over!
Check out this slow-motion replay of the second Big One of the day. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/rVcAZqw5y1
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 14, 2019
For Byron, the damage was terminal. He was forced to retire immediately, along with Jones and Gase.
As for Logano, he was able to drive back to the pits, but his left rear tire blew out and ripped up the fender. The whole windshield was blocked by the hood, so just getting back was an adventure. Once there, the crew taped the hood down and made significant repairs to allow Logano to continue.
Byron and Logano were tied for eighth in points entering the race. Byron being unable to continue while Logano continued one lap down really hurt the sophomore driver’s chances to advance to the Round of 8.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.