Everything hit the fan with 115 laps remaining in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
The Cup Series race, which was pushed to Sunday after rain stopped the event Saturday night, had largely run incident-free, or at least without incidents that involved a large number of cars, up until 115 to go, when Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch made contact exiting turn 2. Both cars spun in tandem, creating a massive roadblock for the rest of the field behind them.
Martinsville Parking Lot. What a mess. ? ?#NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/Hpkk9fO5OD
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 11, 2021
Buescher and Busch, running 17th and 18th, respectively, both received damage, as did everyone who piled into the mayhem: Erik Jones, Matt DiBenedetto and Cole Custer made up the first batch of victims. They were followed by Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Anthony Alfredo, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Cody Ware and Aric Almirola. Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez didn’t escape punishment either, as both cars ended up with fire and smoke billowing from their hoods.
Wow. ?#NASCAR // #BlueEmu500 pic.twitter.com/TlzoqTBs4r
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) April 11, 2021
Suarez wasn’t pleased with William Byron, showing his displeasure in the aftermath and throwing a water bottle at the No. 24.
A fiery end to Daniel Suárez' day in Martinsville.
He's not pleased with William Byron: pic.twitter.com/tDzRXdEqCo
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 11, 2021
His day, along with those of McDowell, Keselowski, Bowman, Haley and Preece, ended up in the garages after the crash.
Denny Hamlin was leading at the time of the melee, followed by Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.