The Big One

The Big One is a phrase describing any crash involving roughly six or more cars in NASCAR stock car racing.

Though multi-car pileups have occurred at nearly every NASCAR track, the term is most commonly used to describe large multi-car Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series accidents at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Less frequently, the term is applied to multi-car wrecks in the Truck and ARCA series accidents at these tracks, and when they raced there, the Dash Series. The first incident recognized as a "Big One" occurred during the 1990 Pepsi 400.

The four restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega are the most vulnerable to pileups. The Sprint Unlimited and Budweiser Duel are also held at Daytona (during the Speedweeks preseason event which leads up to the Daytona 500) but their smaller fields mean less risk of pileups. They occasionally also happen during practice sessions, and in at least one instance, a test session. Dover International Speedway is also a place where cars frequently pile up, because of tight areas of the track. Some mile and a half tracks like Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway have seen "big ones", and they are also known to occur at Phoenix International Raceway, usually on restarts because of outside and inside walls on the frontstretch. At Darlington Raceway, the track's rough surface has been said to cause multi-car wrecks.

Causes

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Practicing at Daytona International Speedway for the 2004 Daytona 500

The 43 cars or 36 trucks in a NASCAR race often run in one to three packs, sometimes only inches apart, while traveling over 300 km/h (186 mph) in three- or (at Talladega mostly) even four- or five-abreast formation. This may be exacerbated in recent years, when restrictor plates and new safety rules have yielded cars with fewer performance variations. This is especially true at Talladega, where handling is not a major factor and packs seldom break up for long.

The close quarters allow small margin for error. One error or sudden mechanical failure is all that is needed to start a chain-reaction crash, with cars scrambling to avoid the crash often getting caught up in separate incidents. Tire smoke often reduces or eliminates visibility, and wrecked cars may partially or completely block the track. Cars well behind the accident can get caught up in the crash due to poor visibility or debris.

During long stretches of green-flag racing (particularly at Daytona), the cars typically spread out around the track. But once a caution flag comes out, the pace car picks up the leader, and the remainder of the field catches up and "packs up" behind it. When the flag returns to green, the tightly bunched, nose-to-tail lineup reduces maneuvering room during acceleration to racing speed. It is not uncommon for several smaller crashes or one big crash to occur immediately after a yellow period. This phenomenon has been referred to as "Cautions breeding cautions."

As a general rule, a "Big One" will include a minimum of seven cars, but usually has at least ten cars involved in the crash.

In the 1990s, key areas of slick and often rutted grass infields on several circuits were covered with asphalt skid pads, which scrub speed from spinning cars.

Coining the phrase

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Typical three-wide pack at Talladega Superspeedway in 2008.

Until the 1990s, massive crashes were referred to as "major," or "terrific" 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". News articles began using the term "Big Wreck" to describe such crashes in 1998, and by 1999, its use was widespread. Drivers began to openly admit they were apprehensive of its possibility.

One of the first times the term "The Big One" was used on-air was during the Winston 500 on ESPN Oct 11, 1998. Commentator Bob Jenkins said during the crash on lap 134 "this is the big one we hoped we would not have." One of the first published instances of the term "The Big One," was an Apr 18, 2000, article on ESPN.com about a crash in the DieHard 500. 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: "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."

By 2001, the phrase was widely used by competitors, fans, and in print and broadcast media. It soon became standard NASCAR vernacular, and became a retronym to describe past such accidents as well.

The Big One has been the subject of criticism of NASCAR. Some have complained that the sanctioning body, promoters, and media have celebrated the crashes.

By 2009, Talladega Superspeedway marketed itself on the notorious crashes, with a three-pound frankfurter sold at the track called "The Big One".

Sprint Cup Series

Template:Overly detailed In 1987, a pileup ushered in changes to NASCAR superspeedway racing. On the 22nd lap of the Winston 500, a tire blew on Bobby Allison's car, sending it into an airborne spin at over 200 mph. The car crashed into the catch fencing protecting the grandstands, ripping down a large section, demolishing his car, and colliding with several other cars. Although one spectator reportedly lost an eye, and many other fans suffered cuts and bruises from flying debris, no one was killed.

Following that race, NASCAR introduced safety rules to slow the cars at Daytona and Talladega for the remainder of the 1987 season. 390 CFM carbs were mandated two months later at the next race in question. During the final lap of the 1987 Pepsi Firecracker 400, Ken Schrader got loose and flipped over near the finish line, collecting Harry Gant.

After Schrader's flip, NASCAR decided further regulation was necessary. In 1988, starting with the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR mandated restrictor plates at the two tracks. But it was the 1990 Pepsi 400 that led to the modern "Big One" crashes.

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Pre-1990

• 1960 Sportsman 250: 37 cars crashed in turn four on the first lap (out of a starting field of 68).

The 1973 Winston 500 in which was the first ever big one at Talladega eliminating 21 cars in a 60-car field including Wendell Scott's career-ending crash. The 1979 Winston 500 had a similar incident, this one involving 17 cars.

It also happened in the 1986 Daytona 500, involving eight or nine cars. In the 1986 Talladega 500, there were three multi-car wrecks, including one on the final lap.

• 1988 Daytona 500: Coming out of turn 4, Richard Petty got loose and was tagged by Phil Barkdoll. Petty then turned sideways and flipped at least seven times (including four times in which the back of his car was on top of the outside wall). As Petty came down off of the wall, he was hit by a sideways Brett Bodine, causing Petty's car to perform a series of 360s before coming to rest. Other drivers involved were Alan Kulwicki, A. J. Foyt, and Eddie Bierschwale, totaling six cars in all.

1990-2000

1990

• Pepsi 400: Polesitter Greg Sacks and Richard Petty were among a pack of cars running three-wide through the tri-oval at the completion of lap 1. Sacks' car was sent spinning in front of the rest of the field. Approaching turn 1, 22 more cars were collected in the huge pileup. The top six cars escaped the incident and Dale Earnhardt dominated the depleted field on the way to his first points-paying Daytona victory. This is regarded as the original "Big One".

1991

• Winston 500: Down the backstretch on lap 71, Mark Martin and Kyle Petty were battling for 7th position, when Ernie Irvan slipped between them. All three cars came together and started spinning in front of the rest of the field. Martin's car lifted off the ground, but did not flip over. Nearly every car from 7th place on back was wrecked, damaged, or spun to the muddy infield. In total, 20 cars were involved. The top six cars escaped the incident. Petty suffered a leg injury and therefore missed the next 11 races.
• Miller Genuine Draft 500: More than 70 laps in a rain shortened race, while battling for the lead, Ernie Irvan spins Hut Stricklin in turn 3 and collected point leader Dale Earnhardt, polesitter Alan Kulwicki, Ken Schrader, Richard Petty who went up top of Ricky Rudd, Bobby Hillin Jr. who sub for injured Kyle Petty and Darrell Waltrip who had a wild flip at Daytona two weeks earlier.

1992

• Daytona 500: Battling for the lead on lap 91 down the backstretch, Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin, and Bill Elliott went three-wide. The three cars came together, and spun to the infield, collecting most of the field. 14 cars became involved in the crash, many seriously damaged. Davey Allison and Morgan Shepherd were among only a handful of cars unscathed, and they finished the race 1st-2nd.

1993

• Winston 500: Ten cars were wiped out on lap 130 when the pack, running three-wide, crashed out of turn four. This was overshadowed by Rusty Wallace's violent rollover crash on the last lap at the finish line after being tagged by Dale Earnhardt.
• Sears DieHard 500: On lap 69, Stanley Smith and Jimmy Horton got together in turn one, collecting six other cars. Horton's car took the worst hit, as it went up the track and over the outside wall, tumbled out of the racetrack down the embankment, and came to rest on a dirt access road. Though Horton was not seriously injured, Smith suffered a near-fatal basilar skull fracture; he would eventually recover. The incident led track officials to install catch fencing along the entire perimeter of superspeedways, rather than just in spectator areas.

1994

• Winston Select 500: On Lap 103, in a race for third, Todd Bodine came down on Greg Sacks and spun into Jeff Gordon. The three cars spun, with Sacks escaping, and collected about 8 other cars. Mark Martin took the worst of it, as he slid out of control into the infield, hit the inside wall, and plowed head on through a guardrail, a chain-link fence, and lastly another guardrail protecting the infield road course, coming to rest only feet from a spectator area. He was not injured by the impact. After the field bunched up behind the pace car for the restart from this wreck, another crash occurred in the tri-oval, when Terry Labonte, running 14th, was tapped from behind by Jimmy Spencer, starting a chain-reaction crash collecting 14 more cars in turn 1.
• GM Goodwrench Dealer 400 (Michigan): On the very first lap in turn 2, Billy Standridge and Derrike Cope made contact, sending both spining up the track and collecting 7 other cars. Bobby Hillin, Jr. went on its side and nearly went out of the track and gets hit by Phil Parsons. Others including Jeff Burton, Morgan Shepherd and Dale Jarrett. It was in the same spot where Ernie Irvan was nearly killed in a practice crash that same weekend.

1995

• Miller 500: On lap 2, John Andretti spun in turn 4 and collected 18 other cars including Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Lake Speed and many others. Ricky Craven spins but kept it straight with minor damage. No one was hurt, this was the first race with the concrete surface at Dover and Kyle Petty who missed the wreck went on to win his 8th and final Sprint Cup Series win.
• Sears DieHard 500: On lap 140, 8th place Jeff Gordon clipped teammate Ken Schrader, sending Schrader spinning backwards. Ricky Craven collided with Schrader, sending him flipping wildly into the grass, rolling over eight times. At least 11 other cars were collected.
• Mountain Dew Southern 500: Two major wrecks in 14 laps in turn one, first in lap 253, Michael Waltrip spins Bill Elliott collecting 4 other cars, then on lap 267, Greg Sacks, Geoff Bodine and Loy Allen Jr. were three wide into turn one, they all made contact spins and collecting 7 other cars including Ward Burton and Darrell Waltrip.

1996

• Winston Select 500: On lap 130, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin checked up on the outside entering turn one, and spun into the path of the field, collecting 14 cars. The other cars involved were Rusty Wallace, Geoff Bodine, Hut Stricklin, Ricky Rudd, Brett Bodine, Derrike Cope, Ward Burton, Elton Sawyer, Ernie Irvan, Ricky Craven, Jeff Purvis, and Mike Wallace. Ricky Craven took the worst hit, as he was hit by Martin and flipped up the banking and into the outside catch fence. Earlier, Bill Elliott had gone airborne on the back straightaway on lap 77.
• DieHard 500: Battling for 10th place on lap 102, John Andretti slid up into Dale Jarrett. The resulting melee blocked the track and collected as many as 15 cars. Andretti, however, was the only car sidelined. Fifteen laps later, a larger crash occurred. Battling for the lead in the tri-oval, Sterling Marlin tried to pass Dale Earnhardt on the outside. Ernie Irvan tapped Marlin from behind, sending Marlin into Earnhardt. Both cars slid hard into the outside wall. Earnhardt flipped over, and was demolished. About 6 cars escaped on the inside, while the rest of the field became tangled up in the incident. Ten cars were destroyed, and several more were involved (including some already damaged from the first wreck). This crash, and the crash that led to Russell Phillips' death at Charlotte, led to the use of the "Earnhardt bar," a piece of steel tubing in the rollcage to prevent the roof from collapsing during a roll-over. Earnhardt suffered a broken collar bone in the crash. A red flag ensued, and because of the late start caused by a rain delay, the race ended with a five-lap shootout on the ensuing restart.
  • This was the last Sprint Cup race to air on tape delay of a minimum one-week delay, having aired one week after it was held, and after the next race on the schedule had been run the previous day. Because of an embargo of the race video, only local Birmingham-area television stations had video of the crash in question.

1997

• Daytona 500: With 12 laps left Dale Earnhardt was going for his first 500 win in 19 years when he hit the wall, then ran into Jeff Gordon, and Terry Labonte bumped into Ernie Irvan while Dale Jarrett bumped into Earnhardt sending him rolling over and Irvan's hood went over the backstretch grandstand injuring some fans. In one of the most memorable moments of NASCAR history, Earnhardt noticed that the wheels of his car were still intact. He got the car off the tow hook, drove it back to pit road and finished the race 5 laps down in 31st. Then with 5 laps to go in turn 4 a big crash involving 13 cars including Johnny Benson, Bobby Hamilton, Joe Nemechek and Dale Jarrett. This one ended under caution as Gordon won his first 500 and Hendrick Motorsports teams finished 1-2-3.
• Interstate Batteries 500: In Turn 1 on the first lap in the first Texas cup race ever, more than 12 cars involved in this massive pile up. Drivers include Johnny Benson, Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Petty, Todd Bodine, sidelining for the injured Ricky Craven, and Darrell Waltrip who was the only car to be sidelined after that accident.
• Pepsi 400: A crash with less than 5 laps remaining set up a green flag restart with one lap to go. The field took the green and white flag at the starter's stand, and battled into turn 1. Down the backstretch, with John Andretti leading, the field fanned out 4 and 5 wide. Ward Burton was forced down into the grass, and as they approached the banking in turn 3, his car slid up and four cars tried to squeeze into the turn. Mark Martin poked his nose between Dick Trickle and Dale Jarrett, causing Burton, Martin, and Trickle to crash hard into the outside wall. Several other cars slipped by, but Derrike Cope and Bobby Hamilton were unable to avoid the spinning cars, and both plowed head on into Burton's and Martin's cars respectively. NASCAR until 2004 would elect to finish races under caution instead of allowing one or two lap finishes on plate races.
• DieHard 500: At lap 140, Jeff Gordon cut a tire and spun into Sterling Marlin, triggering a chain reaction involving 23 cars. The wreck took out many Winston Cup contenders, including Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, among others.

1998

• Texas 500: On lap 2 in turn 1, a crash involving 11 cars occurred. This crash included Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Hut Stricklin, Kevin Lepage, Ernie Irvan, Ted Musgrave, Randy Lajoie, Rick Mast, and John Andretti. This accident caused a red flag of over 10 minutes.

• Sears DieHard 500: On lap 142, Ward Burton clipped Dale Earnhardt, sending Earnhardt into Bill Elliott. Both collided and crashed into the wall hard and Elliott's car went on its side near the start-finish line, involving Ricky Rudd, Michael Waltrip, Chad Little, Ken Schrader, and others.

• UAW–GM Quality 500: On lap 202 of 334, Bobby Labonte ran into the oil, spun in turn 1 and took out at least 11 other cars including Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, his teammate Mike Skinner, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield and Geoff Bodine.

• Winston 500: On lap 134, Sterling Marlin got in the back of Ernie Irvan and spins hard in the wall, then gets hits hard by Dick Trickle and championship contenter Mark Martin. In total, at least eight cars involved, including Marlin, Irvan, Martin, Trickle, Dale Earnhardt, Ward Burton and Johnny Benson. Ernie Irvan was injured, but amazingly he raced the following week at Daytona, which would be his last race of the season as he missed the final three races. The wreck ended Mark Martin's hopes for winning the championship and opening the door to Jeff Gordon as he go on to win his third cup title in four years.

• Pepsi 400:
  • On Lap 32, Kevin Lepage lost control in turn 2, collecting eleven cars, including Rich Bickle, Hut Stricklin, Geoff Bodine, Jeff Green, Ted Musgrave, Michael Waltrip, Johnny Benson, Jr., Steve Grissom, Dan Pardus, and Darrell Waltrip.
  • On Lap 141, Kenny Irwin, Jr. hit Chad Little on the back straightaway, collecting nine cars in all.

1999

• Daytona 500: On lap 135, Dale Jarrett was sent to the apron after contact from his teammate Kenny Irwin Jr. in turn three. The wreck also collected Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Elliott Sadler, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Burton, Geoff Bodine, and more. Jarrett had the worst ride as his car flipped over twice.

• Sears DieHard 500: On lap 49 of 188, Tony Stewart was drafting Mike Skinner until Skinner was shoved into the grass and thus spinning and collecting Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Chad Little, Ernie Irvan, Brett Bodine among them.

2000

• Sears DieHard 500: On lap 138 of 188, Robby Gordon turned Scott Pruett into Michael Waltrip. Pruett escaped the wreck, but contact with Sterling Marlin sent Gordon spinning across the track along with Waltrip & over 10 cars are wrecked including, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, points leader Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Steve Park and many others.
• Winston 500: Right after crossing the checkered flag, Rich Bickle and Ward Burton got together and caused a 7-car crash inside turn 1. Other drivers involved were Steve Park, Steve Grissom, John Andretti, Stacy Compton and Ted Musgrave.

2001-2010

2001

• Daytona 500: On lap 173, running fourth in line on the outside, Robby Gordon turned Ward Burton loose, and Burton hit the back of Tony Stewart's car. Stewart's car turned backwards, hit the wall, and was pushed over Robby's car, then flipped two full times in midair before landing on his wheels in the track's infield, while smoke from the impact, combined with Ward's car turning sideways in the middle of the track, collected much of the field behind them. Bobby Labonte's hood broke off and his engine caught fire, and Stewart's car was demolished. Mark Martin managed to limp his car back to pit road before abandoning it. The race had to be red-flagged in order to clean up the wreckage. 18 cars were collected, bringing out a red flag: Jason Leffler, Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Robby Gordon, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Ward Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Buckshot Jones, Dale Jarrett, Andy Houston and Jeff Burton. This pileup would be greatly overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap.

• Pocono 500: On lap 52, Brett Bodine spun in the Tunnel turn and collecting 13 other cars including Steve Park, Ward Burton, Johnny Benson, John Andretti, Michael Waltrip and Jason Leffler.

• Pepsi 400: On lap 141, during the final cycle of green flag pit stops, Mike Wallace slowed coming off Turn 4 to head for pit road. Mike Skinner slowed to avoid running into Wallace. However, Kurt Busch rear-ended Skinner and turned him into the outside wall collecting over 10 cars including Bobby Hamilton, Sterling Marlin, Terry Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, among others.

• EA Sports 500: Bobby Labonte was leading at the white flag on the last lap. Heading into turn 1, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was leading Tony Stewart and overtook Labonte. Labonte's car drifted up in turn 2 and tried to block Bobby Hamilton, but on the back straightaway, Hamilton tapped Labonte, who spun into Johnny Benson, Jr. and Ricky Craven, sending Benson into the wall and collecting 15 cars, including Ward Burton, Jason Leffler, Sterling Marlin, Robby Gordon, Mike Wallace, Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd and Buckshot Jones. Labonte took the worst damage, as his car flipped and skidded down the track on its roof after hitting Benson.

2002

• Daytona 500:
  • On Lap 148 of 200, Jeff Gordon went to the inside of Kevin Harvick in turn one. When Harvick blocked Gordon's move, he spun down into the infield and back up the track, causing mayhem which collected 17 cars. The drivers involved included Harvick, Ricky Rudd, Matt Kenseth, pole sitter Jimmie Johnson, Jerry Nadeau, Bobby Hamilton, John Andretti, Ken Schrader, Mike Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kenny Wallace, Casey Atwood, Jeremy Mayfield, and several others.
  • On a restart with six laps to go, the second place car, Sterling Marlin, delayed his acceleration, causing an accordion effect. In the jam-up, Michael Waltrip got into Ryan Newman, then was spun out by Mark Martin, collecting Rusty Wallace, Jeff Green, Terry Labonte, and Jeff Burton. As this happened, Marlin spun out leader Jeff Gordon, damaging his right front. The race was red-flagged, during which Marlin (now the leader) would then attempt to fix his fender, receiving a penalty.

• Carolina Dodge Dealers 400: Late in the race on lap 226 at Darlington in turn 2, Tony Stewart was leading and ran into the lapped car of Buckshot Jones. Both spun creating a track blocker filled with smoke, collecting the rest of the field. Eleven cars were involved, including Jimmy Spencer (who slammed into Stewart in the right front), Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Johnny Benson, Ken Schrader, and Jeff Gordon got some damage. Sterling Marlin missed the wreck and went on to his 10th and final Cup series career win. Stewart was injured and was relieved by Kyle Petty at Bristol middle of the race the following week.

• Aaron's 499: On lap 164, going into turn 1, Jimmie Johnson shuffled Kyle Petty out of line. Coming on to the backstretch, Petty found a spot in line, but everyone slowed up, causing Mike Wallace to force Tony Stewart into the wall, collecting 24 cars, including Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Mike Skinner, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Casey Atwood, Bill Elliott, Johnny Benson, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, Ricky Craven, Jimmy Spencer, John Andretti, Steve Grissom, Bobby Hamilton, Geoff Bodine, and Ricky Rudd. Sadler took the worst hit, slamming the corner of the inside wall on the right side, while Benson had to be pulled out of his car after his engine caught fire while returning to the pits. However, all of the drivers involved escaped injury. With 24 cars collected, this was the biggest crash in Sprint Cup history until the next running of this race in April 2003, which collected 27 cars.

• Pepsi 400: On lap 135, Dale Jarrett was spun out by Jeff Burton, who was also involved and thus collecting 14 cars: Joe Nemechek (who took the hardest impact) Steve Park, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte, Mike Skinner, Jeremy Mayfield, Geoffrey Bodine, Bobby Labonte, Jerry Nadeau, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Petty, and Brett Bodine, whose car caught on fire and burned for several minutes long after Bodine had exited.

• UAW–GM Quality 500: On lap 230, Todd Bodine tried to run three-wide with several other cars down the frontstretch, but the left side of his car ran into wet grass from the rain earlier, and slid up into Ward Burton and Jeff Green. 7 other cars were collected, including Brett Bodine, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick.

2003

• Aaron's 499: On lap 4, Ryan Newman blew a right front tire in turn 1, slammed the wall violently and spun across the track. The smoke caused most of the field behind him to pile in. This was the biggest ever crash in a Sprint Cup race, involving 27 cars: Jack Sprague, Jerry Nadeau, Hermie Sadler, Mike Wallace, Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Mike Skinner, Mark Martin, Jimmy Spencer, eventual race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Johnny Benson, Jr., Greg Biffle, points leader Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Green, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, John Andretti, Kyle Petty, Ken Schrader, Todd Bodine, Dave Blaney, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton. Newman's flat tire came loose, and bounced off the hood of Rudd's car and over the catch fence.

• Auto Club 500: On lap 231, a multi-car crash in turns 1 & 2 happened when Dale Jarrett spun around and hit the wall hard. Johnny Benson spun in similar fashion while avoiding Jarrett and backed into the wall as well, and Jeremy Mayfield slammed into the back of Jarrett. Also involved were Larry Foyt, Robby Gordon, Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Dave Blaney, and Kyle Petty.
• The Winston: On the final lap of the second segment, Tony Stewart attempted to pass Terry Labonte on the inside going into turn 1. They got together, both spinning and collecting Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Dale Jarrett (who was in the final transfer spot before this crash). Elliott suffered a broken toe and was transferred to a hospital.

• Pepsi 400: At lap 75, on the backstretch, Kurt Busch blew a left front tire, spun onto the apron, came back across the track & collected a total of 10 cars, including pole sitter Steve Park, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray and Ricky Craven.
• Tropicana 400: On Lap 227, Casey Mears and Johnny Benson got together going down the backstretch, breaking Benson's front suspension. Benson skidded along the apron into turn 3 and clipped Bobby Labonte, sending Labonte backwards into the wall and bursting into flames from a ruptured fuel cell. Mike Wallace, Steve Park, Bill Elliott, and Robby Gordon were also collected.
• Mountain Dew Southern 500:
  • On lap 5, a 6-car wreck occurred when Christian Fittipaldi spun into turn three after contact with Jason Leffler, collecting Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, and Tony Raines.
  • On lap 165, another 6-car wreck occurred in the exact same spot when Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears got together, collecting, Johnny Benson, Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader, and Kenny Wallace.

2004

• Daytona 500: On lap 71, Johnny Sauter got loose on the back straightaway. When he tried to save it, he made contact with Brian Vickers and defending race winner Michael Waltrip, which touched off a 12-car wreck. Waltrip took the worst ride, as one of his tires broke off while his car skidded into the grass. Once in the grass, the resulting friction caused the rim to dig into the dirt and the car flipped over three full times, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and coming to rest on its roof. Waltrip was uninjured. There was a brief delay over whether or not to upright Waltrip before extricating him. Others involved included Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Sterling Marlin, Ryan Newman, Johnny Benson, John Andretti and many others.

• Aaron's 499: On lap 83, in Turn 3, Tony Stewart spun out Kurt Busch. Busch's car came back up the track and collected ten cars: Kenny Wallace, Rusty Wallace, Derrike Cope, Kasey Kahne, Terry Labonte, Dave Blaney, Scott Riggs, Jeremy Mayfield, and Ryan Newman.
• Nextel Open and Nextel All-Star Challenge:
  • Nextel Open: Right at the starting green flag, Casey Mears (on the outside of the front row) had a transmission problem and could not accelerate. Jeremy Mayfield ran into the back of Mears and jacked his rear tires off the ground, causing the rest of the field to accordion together, collecting Jimmy Spencer, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Burton, Brendan Gaughan, Johnny Sauter, Kerry Earnhardt, Scott Riggs, Morgan Shepherd, and eventual fan vote winner Ken Schrader. The red flag was displayed to clean the track.
  • All-Star Challenge: On lap 11, Greg Biffle spun after being tapped from behind down the frontstretch by his teammate Kurt Busch, resulting in a large crash involving nine other cars: Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip. defending winner Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader (again), Kasey Kahne, Joe Nemechek, and Nextel Open winner Sterling Marlin. As with the big wreck in the Open, the race was red-flagged.

• MBNA 400 - A Salute to Heroes:
  • On Lap 346, during a restart with a number of lead lap cars trapped at the tail end of the lead lap (this was before the wave around system was introduced in June 2009), Jeremy Mayfield was leading, but he was behind several of the other lead lap cars. Heading into turn 3, Michael Waltrip got into Dave Blaney, causing a wreck that involved 19 cars, including: Ward Burton, Rusty Wallace, eventual race winner Mark Martin, Scott Riggs, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, leader Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Rudd, Dave Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Sterling Marlin, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Green, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Burton. The race was temporarily red-flagged.
  • Another red flag occurred on lap 383. Kasey Kahne was leading when he slipped into oil being put down by Casey Mears' car in turn 4 and hit the wall. The wreck also collected Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, and Robby Gordon.
• Tropicana 400: On a caution restart at lap 127, race leader Kasey Kahne was hooked into the wall by eventual race winner Tony Stewart, who had taken four tires on the previous pitstop while Kahne took fuel only. This caused a chain reaction collecting Dale Earnhardt, Jr., John Andretti, Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, and Scott Riggs. Afterwards, a fight broke out between Kahne's and Stewart's pit crews.
• Chevy Rock and Roll 400: On lap 178, Jimmy Spencer tapped Casey Mears coming out of turn 4, spinning him out in front of a large pack of cars and collecting Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mike Wallace, Dale Jarrett, and Mark Martin. Johnson, Earnhardt, and Martin would go on to make the chase despite the wreck.

2005

• Daytona 500: Two back-to-back multi-car wrecks occurred within the final 20 laps of the race.
  • On lap 182, Greg Biffle lost control after making contact with Scott Riggs. Rusty Wallace, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick, Scott Wimmer, Jeremy Mayfield, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, and Kasey Kahne were also involved. On the inside, Wimmer hit the apron, and then flipped over four times. The wreck damaged a total of ten cars.
  • On the restart of that very caution, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., running third, appeared to delay his acceleration. The cars behind him bunched together, and Mike Skinner pushed Ryan Newman into the back of Carl Edwards, causing yet another wreck that damaged eight cars, including Travis Kvapil, John Andretti, Mike Bliss, Kasey Kahne (again), and Dale Jarrett.

• Golden Corral 500: At Atlanta Motor Speedway on the first lap in the backstretch, Casey Mears appeared to have been bumped from behind by Scott Riggs, spinning him across the track in front of traffic. Cars pile-up as they scrambled to avoid him, collecting Jeff Gordon, 6-time Atlanta winner Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Shane Hmiel, Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton.

• Food City 500: At lap 332, while battling for the free pass, Ken Schrader was spun by Bobby Hamilton, Jr. into turn 3, causing a 14-car pile-up (eight of which were lead-lap cars). Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Dave Blaney, Kurt Busch, Ricky Rudd, Michael Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Kasey Kahne, Sterling Marlin, and Mike Wallace were all involved, and the race was red flagged for roughly eleven minutes.

• Aaron's 499: On lap 131, Scott Riggs and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made contact, but no harm was done. When they came back toward the start/finish line, both cars were racing side by side a lap later. Earnhardt, Jr. bumped into Mike Wallace, causing Wallace to veer toward the left into the right rear of Jimmie Johnson. Johnson then turned push Wallace toward the right sending him sideways and into Riggs, collecting 25 cars total: Mike Wallace, Scott Riggs, Matt Kenseth, Sterling Marlin, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace, Dave Blaney, Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Ricky Rudd, Joe Nemechek, Scott Wimmer, Bobby Hamilton, Jr., Boris Said, Jason Leffler, Mike Bliss, Brian Vickers, Johnny Sauter, Mike Skinner, Kerry Earnhardt, Jeff Green, and Carl Edwards. Fox studio analyst Jeff Hammond estimated the total damage at $8 million. No injuries were reported but the race was red-flagged for about 40 minutes for extensive cleanup. Kenseth, Mears, and Labonte were the only ones to return from the wreck and stay on the lead lap. However Labonte did not finish the race, because of an engine failure.
• Nextel All-Star Challenge: On lap 35, towards the end of the first segment, Joe Nemechek was knocked sideways into Kevin Harvick after being bumped from behind by Tony Stewart, causing a huge pile-up down the frontstretch that also claimed Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex, Jr., Michael Waltrip, and Terry Labonte. An argument ensued between Harvick and Nemechek following the accident.

• Pepsi 400:
  • On lap 35, Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray slowed to head for pit road. The car directly behind McMurray, Scott Riggs, veered to the outside to avoid him and collected Mark Martin and Kurt Busch. Six other cars were involved: Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Bobby Labonte, Scott Wimmer, Casey Mears, and Ken Schrader.
  • On lap 147, another wreck occurred when Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton sandwiched Carl Edwards going into the tri-oval, damaging 7 cars, including Robby Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Kyle Busch, and Scott Wimmer (again).

• UAW-Ford 500:
  • On lap 20 in turn 1, Elliott Sadler the pole sitter got hit from behind by Jimmie Johnson, spins and collecting 7 cars, including defending race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mark Martin, 2003 fall race winner Michael Waltrip, and Mike Skinner. Mike Bliss spun while avoiding the wreck but didn't hit anything. Waltrip took the worst damage, as his car flipped over two full times.
  • On lap 65, approaching the tri-oval, Casey Mears got turned sideways by Ryan Newman and 8 more cars were collected, including Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Mike Wallace, Jeff Gordon and Scott Riggs. Riggs got the worst of it as he turned upside down and then flipped violently past the finish line, and then was hit by Burton. The crash took place in the tri-oval past pit road exit.

2006

• Food City 500:
  • On lap 188, an accordion effect occurred and Dave Blaney spun sideways after being bumped by Clint Bowyer, collecting David Stremme, Brian Vickers, Scott Wimmer, and J.J. Yeley. Several seconds later, Michael Waltrip slid into Stremme's stationary car.
  • On lap 261, Ryan Newman was spun out by Reed Sorenson on the frontstretch, causing another large wreck. Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Sterling Marlin, Scott Wimmer (again), Jimmie Johnson, Brent Sherman, and Stanton Barrett were also involved.
  • On lap 414, a third wreck occurred when Jeff Gordon spun Martin Truex, Jr. coming out of turn 4, causing a chain reaction that included J.J. Yeley (again), Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Robby Gordon, and Dale Jarrett. Truex would continue, only to be taken out by Tony Stewart one restart later.
• Aaron's 499:
  • On lap 9, in turn three, Kyle Busch got loose and slid up into Martin Truex, Jr., also taking out Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, David Stremme, Ken Schrader, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte, Kasey Kahne, and others with him.
  • Later, on lap 174, another wreck occurred in the tri-oval when Dave Blaney and Kevin Lepage got together while running four wide. Reed Sorenson, Joe Nemechek, Michael Waltrip, Travis Kvapil were collected.
• Nextel All-Star Challenge: On lap 9 of the second segment, leader Kasey Kahne got loose coming out of turn 2 and slid up into Mark Martin, putting both cars in the wall and triggering a 7-car accident on the backstretch. The cars involved were Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle. Stewart was the only one able to continue, but would later be involved in an accident with Matt Kenseth.
• Dodge Save Mart 350:
  • On the first lap, Ken Schrader spun out coming into the esses. Schrader slid perpendicular to the track and was t-boned by Sterling Marlin. Other cars involved were Tom Hubert, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray (who had already spun out earlier in the lap) and Clint Bowyer. The wreck caused a red flag.
  • With 6 laps to go, another big pile-up occurred when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun J.J. Yeley just after turn 2. Joe Nemechek, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson, Dale Jarrett, and Bobby Labonte were also involved, and a second red flag was displayed.

• UAW-Ford 500: Going into turn one on lap 137, Carl Edwards came down and got into Casey Mears and took out 12 other cars including Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin.

• Bank of America 500: After just completing the first lap, 14 cars were involved in a massive wreck including Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Robby Gordon, Martin Truex, Jr., Mike Bliss and Joe Nemechek.

2007

• Daytona 500: On the last lap, with Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick battling for the lead coming out of turn 4, Kyle Busch rubbed up against Matt Kenseth causing both to spin. Busch spun down into the entrance of pit road, while Kenseth ran up the track into the wall, collecting more cars between turn 4 and the tri-oval. Clint Bowyer flipped over and slid across the start/finish line on his roof and on fire, before his car slid into the grass and righted itself. Other drivers involved included Jeff Gordon, Sterling Marlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Stremme, David Gilliland, Greg Biffle and Casey Mears. All cars that crashed were scored as running on the last lap.

• Coca-Cola 600:
  • On lap 53, Jimmie Johnson's left rear tire tread came off after contact with A.J. Allmendinger in the front stretch. As other cars tried to avoid it, Tony Stewart was touched from behind by Dave Blaney, and collected ten more cars, including Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Sterling Marlin, David Gilliland, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and others.
  • Ten laps later, Tony Raines got loose coming out of turn 4 and took out the points leader Jeff Gordon, who hit the wall hard, lifting his car's wheels off the ground; Allmendinger, Jeff Burton and Robby Gordon were also involved. Gordon climbed out of his car unhurt.

• Sharp AQUOS 500: On lap 178 in the frontstretch, while heading to the line for the next lap, Jeff Gordon gets into Jeremy Mayfield and David Reutimann, causing Reutimann to spin out and clip Ricky Rudd and cause a 6-car pile up. Other drivers involved were David Gilliland and Reed Sorenson.

• 2007 Lifelock 400: A rain delay caused a huge 15 car pile up out of turn 2 on lap 155 when Michael Waltrip bumped Ken Schrader, also involving Matt Kenseth, David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr.

• Dodge Dealers 400: With 14 laps to go, Kurt Busch got loose, hitting the wall. He came down the track, hit Reed Sorenson, his teammate Ryan Newman, and then Martin Truex Jr.. Then, behind them, everyone checks up when a 2nd accident occurs, when Kyle Busch spun with Scott Riggs. Then, Kasey Kahne gets right into the back bumper of the elder Busch, upending him. Others involved are Jimmie Johnson, who still managed to finish in 14th, Jeff Green, J.J Yeley, and Bobby Labonte. The 2 most notable things about this wreck are that Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer somehow managed to find lanes to pass through to avoid this wreck, and that this is the first big one with the Car of Tomorrow.

• UAW-Ford 500 (Talladega): On lap 144, Bobby Labonte appeared to have a tire go down at the very top of the racetrack. He then went down the hill and collected about 8-9 more cars, including championship contenders Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. Others involved included Jamie McMurray, David Ragan Paul Menard, Robby Gordon, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann.

• AAA 500: On the restart nearing darkness (because of Kyle Petty's crash causing a red flag for 10 minutes), Casey Mears got loose and sparked an 11 car melee that collected Tony Stewart, David Ragan, A.J. Allmendinger, and David Gilliland.

2008

• Daytona 500: With 12 laps left in turn 3, Kevin Harvick bumped the back of Dave Blaney, who went up the banking in front of Juan Pablo Montoya, whose car cut a tire, hit hard in the wall, and took Mark Martin and others with them, including Denny Hamlin. However, the only car damaged too severely to continue in the race was Blaney's.

• Auto Club 500: Early in the race, Casey Mears got loose and spun in Turn 2 and collected Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the wall, then Sam Hornish, Jr. hit Reed Sorenson and then jacked Mears' car up and turned over on its roof. Travis Kvapil also received minor rear-end damage in the wreck. No drivers were injured. This led into a long red flag period to repair water seepage on the track and the remainder of the race went Sunday into Monday due to rain.

• Aaron's 499: Two crashes occurred in the last twenty laps:
  • The first happened in turn 1 on lap 173, when Tony Stewart and David Stremme made contact. Stewart's car made contact with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., causing Earnhardt to come down the track in front of Stremme, causing further contact that caused Stremme, Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr., Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray to be sent into the outside wall.
  • On the final lap, Earnhardt and McMurray made contact again in turn 1, collecting ten cars, including Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, David Stremme, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Joe Nemechek.

• 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400: On Lap 231, Carl Edwards, Dave Blaney and J.J. Yeley got together on the back straightaway, causing Edwards to send Yeley into the wall, collecting several more cars, including Michael McDowell, Regan Smith, Patrick Carpentier, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, David Gilliland, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Johnny Sauter. Carpentier took the worst ride as his car smashed the inside wall and then was struck by Kurt Busch as he came up the track. A temporary red flag ensued.

• Best Buy 400: More than 10 laps in the race in Turn 2, David Gilliland tapped Elliott Sadler and hit the outside wall, then came down the track into Tony Stewart and then they all piled in. In all, 12 cars were involved, including Scott Riggs, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Bill Elliott, Paul Menard and Sadler's teammate Kasey Kahne; several were key point contenders at the time. This led to a red flag for massive cleanup.
• Coke Zero 400: Michael Waltrip got turned by Sam Hornish, Jr. on the final lap in Turn 1, collecting at least 11 cars including J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex, Jr., Terry Labonte, Patrick Carpentier, Travis Kvapil and several others.

• Centurion Boats at the Glen: In turn 11 with 8 laps to go, David Gilliland and Michael McDowell made contact. Gilliland veered across the straight near pit road and took a few hard hits, resulting in a destroyed front end. Seven others are collected, including Sam Hornish, Jr., Bobby Labonte, who had to go to the nearby hospital, Dave Blaney, whose car was destroyed, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Joe Nemechek, and Michael Waltrip.
• Sharpie 500: On lap 216, Michael Waltrip hooked Casey Mears into the wall going down the frontstretch. Mears went spinning into turn 1 and collected Waltrip, Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish, Jr, Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne, and Reed Sorenson. Upon getting hit, Bowyer voiced his frustration on his radio by saying, "Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR period. I can't believe Napa signed back on." The race was red flagged for cleanup.

• AMP Energy 500:
  • The first wreck happened on Lap 68, collecting nine cars when Brian Vickers blew a right front tire down the front stretch. This accident included Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., David Gilliland, among others.
  • With 16 laps to go, Roush teammates Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth got together while racing three-wide for second place, triggering a 12-car pile-up in turn 3, which took out Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip, Kyle Busch, and many more.

• Checker Autoparts 500:
  • The first big wreck occurred on lap 275 when Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears made contact through the "dogleg", sending Mears spinning. Due to the relatively tight racing at that point, everyone else nearby piled in. Johnny Sauter and Scott Speed make contact, collecting both Sam Hornish, Jr. and David Gilliland, with the Gilliland getting the worst of it, having his car go airborne and jacked up on top of Speed's car. Others involved were Elliott Sadler, Kyle Petty, Scott Riggs, and Bobby Labonte. Also this brought out the red flag in which ESPN pulled their Heidi Game ruse.
  • Then, on the last lap, coming to the checkered flag, Matt Kenseth bumped Montoya, turning him and sending A.J. Allmendinger into the wall, collecting about seven other cars as they scrambled around. Others who were involved included Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, and others.

2009

• Daytona 500: After two pit-stop miscues, on lap 124, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was a lap down and lined up behind Brian Vickers on the "lapped cars" inside column for a restart. The two cars were near the front of the field battling each other to be the first car one lap down, which under the beneficiary rule entitles the driver to advance one lap on the next caution period (although prior to the implementation of double-file restarts in points-paying Sprint Cup races in June 2009, it was not permitted in the final ten laps of the race). Earnhardt dove below Vickers, and Vickers moved over to block. The two cars made contact, and Vickers spun into the pack. At least twelve cars were involved, including Kyle Busch, who had dominated much of the race up to that point. When interviewed, Vickers commented, "To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That's my biggest problem with it. But, apparently, (Earnhardt, Jr.) wanted a caution pretty bad."

• Aaron's 499:
  • On lap 7, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon were racing side by side and touched in turn three. Gordon got sideways and a large group of cars were turned hard against the outside wall: Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Max Papis, Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Scott Riggs, A.J. Allmendinger, David Gilliland, and Bobby Labonte. Martin and Bowyer took the hardest hits (both into the outside wall) of those involved.
  • Then, with nine laps to go, on lap 180, Denny Hamlin tapped Juan Pablo Montoya on the back straightaway, causing Montoya's car to turn against Bobby Labonte, starting another crash colecting Martin Truex, Jr., Robby Gordon, David Stremme, Jeremy Mayfield, Jimmie Johnson, Michael Waltrip, Sam Hornish, Jr., and once again Bobby Labonte. Robby Gordon took the worst hit, as he sped across the apron and smashed the inside wall head-on, caving in the front end of his car.

• Coke Zero 400:
  • On lap 77, Jamie McMurray and David Stremme got together, sending Stremme into Kasey Kahne and collecting 13 cars in all, including Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Reed Sorenson, Jeff Gordon, David Gilliland, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, and Michael Waltrip.
  • On the last lap, approaching the checkered flag, Kyle Busch tried to block the advancing Tony Stewart and Stewart ended up tapping Busch, hooking him into the wall. Busch took the worst hit of the crash, as he was lifted airborne when Kasey Kahne submarined under the back end of his car. Also involved were Busch's teammate Joey Logano, Jeff Burton, A. J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Robby Gordon and others. The points lost by Busch in this incident, instead of conceding the pass, eventually were enough to cost him a Chase position. Busch walked away from the crash uninjured but contends to this day that Stewart intentionally wrecked him.

• Pepsi 500 (Auto Club): With 6 laps to go, a nine car pileup occurred down the frontstretch going into turn 1 involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton and all four Richard Petty Motorsports cars (Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, A. J. Allmendinger and Reed Sorenson). This wreck led to a red-flag period of almost 22 minutes.

2010

• Kobalt Tools 500 (Atlanta): After Carl Edwards sent Brad Keselowski flipping on the frontstretch, which eventually led to Edwards being parked by NASCAR, the race went into its first green-white-checker attempt. On the restart, Kurt Busch squeezed between Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard to claim the lead in turn 1. In turn 3, Jamie McMurray got loose and hit Bowyer and Kyle Busch, collecting Martin Truex, Jr, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin and David Gilliland.

• Samsung Mobile 500: On lap 309, David Reutimann's engine failed, bringing out a caution. Some cars took two tires and other cars took four tires on pit stops. On the ensuing restart on lap 316, with 18 laps to go, Tony Stewart, who took two tires, restarted on the outside. In a four-abreast race off Turn 4, Carl Edwards tapped Stewart, who tapped Jeff Gordon, sending Gordon into the wall, causing a nine-car melee past the pit road exit, collecting Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, A. J. Allmendinger, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Jamie McMurray.

• Aaron's 499: On lap 83, Kyle Busch turned Johnny Sauter, triggering a 8-car wreck on the tri-oval including Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Max Papis and Paul Menard, many of whom bounced off each other. However, only Waltrip, Papis and Sauter were unable to continue. Sauter was the only driver unable to drive back to the pits, as part of his bumper came off. Following a three car crash in the tri-oval involving Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Scott Speed, the race went into overdrive. On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, lap 189, the attempt was aborted when Joey Logano turned Ryan Newman in turn 3, causing Newman to go down and also collect Bobby Labonte, Elliott Sadler, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, Sam Hornish Jr., and Brad Keselowski.

• Pocono 500: On the final lap of a green-white-checker attempt, Kasey Kahne tried to pass A.J. Allmendinger on the inside. Kahne got into the wet grass and spun in front of Greg Biffle and Mark Martin, plowing hard into the wall and nearly flipping over the wall and out of the track. This wreck involved 11 cars, including Kahne, Biffle, Allmendinger, Martin, Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, David Ragan, Martin Truex, Jr, Elliott Sadler, and Ryan Newman.

• Toyota/Save Mart 350: After a chain reaction stack up that started at the front of the field, several cars in the back were either ran into or turned around. These drivers included Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr., Max Papis, Martin Truex, Jr., and Regan Smith. Numerous other drivers suffered damage but were not involved in the crash.

• Coke Zero 400: On lap 148, Kurt Busch got into Jeff Burton, and turned him into Sam Hornish, Jr. Behind them, Juan Pablo Montoya turned Brad Keselowski into Reed Sorenson and Jimmie Johnson. The smoke from these incidents reduced visibility to the point that a large portion of the field was collected behind them, leading to a red flag. Mark Martin pounded the outside wall and caught fire when he got to pit road, where fellow pit crew members pulled him out of his car. In all, 20 cars were involved, but no drivers were seriously injured.

• AMP Energy Juice 500: Shortly after taking the white flag, A. J. Allmendinger stuck his nose between Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip. Waltrip and Stewart hit each other and Allmendinger bounced off of another car. Allmendinger was then flipped onto his roof and slid down to the inside wall, where his car flipped a few times before coming to rest on its wheels. Others involved included Scott Speed, Kurt Busch, David Gilliland, and Kyle Busch, among several others.

2011

• Daytona 500: On lap 29, going into turn 4, Michael Waltrip got into the back of David Reutimann, spinning both of them and collecting twelve more cars, including Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Joe Nemechek, Jimmie Johnson, Marcos Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, Andy Lally, Travis Kvapil, Brian Keselowski, Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon and A.J. Allmendinger.

• Subway Fresh Fit 500: On lap 67 heading into turn two just after a restart, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth triggered a 15-car wreck that unfolded down the backstretch. Those involved included Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, Regan Smith, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann, David Ragan, Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland, and Andy Lally.

• Coke Zero 400:
  • On lap 142, Mark Martin was turned into Brian Vickers by Joey Logano in turn two. Vickers and Martin came back up the track and 11 more cars were collected, including Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Travis Kvapil, Landon Cassill, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, David Reutimann, and Kurt Busch.

• Wonderful Pistachios 400: On lap 8, Clint Bowyer spun. 11 more cars were collected behind him, when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made contact with Matt Kenseth. Others caught in this wreck included Scott Speed, Denny Hamlin, Marcos Ambrose, Casey Mears, and Robby Gordon, among others.

2012

• Budweiser Shootout:
  • The first happened in the first half when Paul Menard got into David Ragan in turn 2, starting an eight car crash. The drivers involved in this wreck were: Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Paul Menard, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Waltrip.
  • The second one happened on lap 55 in turn 2, when Marcos Ambrose turned Joey Logano loose. Involved in this crash were: Kenseth (again), Logano, Martin Truex, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kevin Harvick, who coasted down the track on fire.
  • The last one happened with two laps to go within regulation, when Jeff Gordon got into the back of eventual winner Kyle Busch, turned on his side after collecting Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, then barrel-rolled three times, and landed on his roof on the frontstretch near the exit of turn 4.
• Daytona 500, "The Race that never ends": The first postponed Daytona 500 led to a series of Big Ones.
  • On lap 2, Elliott Sadler tapped Jimmie Johnson, sending him into the wall and causing a wreck that also collected David Ragan, Danica Patrick, Trevor Bayne and Kurt Busch. Johnson took a hard driver's side lick from Ragan.
  • On lap 187, Jamie McMurray cut a tire and started a chain reaction crash involving Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Carl Edwards, and Tony Stewart.
  • On lap 196, nine cars wrecked in the same spot as the first two crashes, when Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. made contact in the tri-oval, collecting Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, David Gilliland, Dave Blaney, David Reutimann, and Landon Cassill.
• Food City 500 (Bristol): On lap 24, Regan Smith got into Kasey Kahne in the frontstretch, causing Kahne to spin towards turn 1 and get hit by Carl Edwards and several others, including Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick. Race winner Brad Keselowski barely missed being involved in the wreck.
• Aaron's 499:
  • On Lap 142, Aric Almirola ran out of gas and tried to get down on the apron in turn 3, and slid back up above the yellow line, sending Dave Blaney into the wall. Landon Cassill, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jr., Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Terry Labonte piled in, with Jeff Gordon getting clipped late by a sliding Truex Jr. Cassill took the worst damage, as the nose of his car peeled away.
  • On lap 184, restarting from Kurt Busch's spin in the tri-oval, accelerating towards turn 1, A.J. Allmendinger was clipped by a charging Denny Hamlin and in turn clipped Paul Menard, spinning Menard around. While Trevor Bayne and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. managed to make it through, nine cars were collected, including Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Robert Richardson, Jr., Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano again.
• FedEx 400 (Dover): on lap 9, Landon Cassill and Tony Stewart made contact coming out of turn 2 and Regan Smith got into the spinning Stewart. Also involved were Juan Pablo Montoya, David Gilliland, Casey Mears, Travis Kvapil, Reed Sorenson, Michael McDowell, Dave Blaney, Scott Speed, Stephen Leicht, and Joe Nemechek. Some of the cars were a group right behind the first group of wrecking cars, and piled in when McDowell got turned loose. The wreckage blocked the track and required a 20 minute red flag.
• Coke Zero 400:
  • On lap 125, involved six cars crashed in the tri-oval as they were trying to enter pit road: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, Regan Smith, Joey Logano, and Michael Waltrip.
  • On lap 152, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin made contact in the tri-oval, with Hamlin losing control and swerving up into traffic, collecting 14 cars, including Trevor Bayne, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard, David Reutimann, Dave Blaney, Martin Truex, Jr., Casey Mears, David Gilliland, and David Ragan.
  • On the final lap, Matt Kenseth made contact coming out of turn four with Greg Biffle, spinning Biffle out and sparking a melee involving 12 cars. Among the drivers collected in this accident were Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Terry Labonte, Aric Almirola, Jamie McMurray, and Travis Kvapil.
• Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500: On lap 189, the last lap of a green-white-checkered restart following Jamie McMurray's spin with five laps to go, Tony Stewart tried to block the advancing Michael Waltrip and Casey Mears. As Stewart moved to block Waltrip in turn 4 and was passed by Matt Kenseth, Waltrip tapped Stewart from behind, and spun up into the pack, collecting 23 cars, including Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, Dave Blaney, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Casey Mears, David Ragan, Regan Smith, Kasey Kahne, and more. Stewart's car took the worst damage, as it went upside down and landed on top of Kahne, Menard, and Bowyer after contact with Bowyer. Jeff Gordon escaped the wreck to finish in second place, while Travis Kvapil, Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman avoided the wreck to take top-ten finishes. Following this crash, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who had taken a hard hit from contact with Bobby Labonte in the crash, was diagnosed with a concussion, requiring him to sit out the next two races (Charlotte and Kansas), replaced by Regan Smith at both of them.

2013

• Pre-season test session at Daytona: On the second day of Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona, 12 cars were damaged on the backstretch after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. turned Marcos Ambrose during the drafting test session for the 2013 Daytona 500. Among the other drivers involved included Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards, and Jamie McMurray. Most of the teams involved left the track afterward.
• Sprint Unlimited: On lap 14, Tony Stewart made a move for the lead, trying to squeeze between Matt Kenseth and Marcos Ambrose. Stewart cut down in front of Ambrose in turn one, turning his car sideways. Stewart saved his car, but Jimmie Johnson checked up and Denny Hamlin ran into the back of him, spinning Johnson's car around, and collecting several more cars, including Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., and Mark Martin.
• Daytona 500:
  • On lap 33, entering turn one, Kyle Busch turned Kasey Kahne into the infield. As the field checked up, six cars were collected, including Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Brad Keselowski.
  • On lap 136, as cars checked up in front of them in turn 2, Brad Keselowski was turned sideways by Trevor Bayne. Bayne got sideways himself and collected seven more cars (totaling nine in all), including Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., David Ragan, David Gilliland, Josh Wise and Terry Labonte. Keselowski continued without further incident.
• STP Gas Booster 500 (Martinsville): On a restart on lap 180, a series of chain reactions led to ten cars wrecking between the back straightaway and the finish line, that started when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ran into Kasey Kahne, also collecting Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, Martin Truex, Jr., Clint Bowyer and more.
• Aaron's 499:
  • On lap 43, approaching turn one, Kyle Busch turned Kasey Kahne into the wall at the front of the pack. Kahne bounced off the wall and turned Busch into the wall, and then collected 14 more cars, including Kevin Harvick, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers (who had just taken over for Denny Hamlin), Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, David Stremme, Martin Truex, Jr., and Scott Speed.
  • On lap 182, going down the back straightaway with darkness approaching due to an earlier rain delay, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. tried to squeeze between J.J. Yeley and the outside wall. Yeley got loose, shot across the track, turned across the front of Marcos Ambrose and into the right-rear of Kurt Busch, and a number of cars including Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick, Terry Labonte, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip (who barely scraped the outside wall), David Stremme, Martin Truex, Jr. (who did the same as Waltrip), and Jeff Gordon (who spun while trying to miss Yeley but didn't hit anything) were collected. Busch had the worst hit as his car flipped over after contact from Yeley and landed on top of Newman, then was hit by Bowyer and Bobby Labonte as he landed back on the track.

Nationwide Series

1990

• Goody's 300: On lap 13 in turn 4, Brad Teague spins in front of the pack and taking at least 15 other cars including Darrell Waltrip, his brother Michael Waltrip, Kyle Petty, Tommy Ellis, Tommy Houston, Rick Mast, Kenny Wallace and Jack Ingram.

1999

• Yellow Freight 300: on lap 134 in turn 4 at Atlanta, Geoff Bodine taps Phil Parsons around and involving 11 other cars including Mark Martin, Dick Trickle, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip and Wayne Grubb

• Touchstone Energy 300: on lap 68 in turn 1 at Talladega, Ken Schrader gets bumped from behind by Kelly Denton into the wall that sets off a big wreck involving 19 other cars including Jeff Krogh, Chuck Bown, Shane Hall, Phil Parsons, Brad Loney and Todd Bodine. Schrader's car slides down the track and gets hit hard a second time, which ruptures his fuel cell and sends flames running down the track. Thick black smoke and a line of fire completely cover that end of the track. ABC sports announcer Dr. Jerry Punch announces live: "As now there is flames burning all the way down the race track, the rear end impact apparently rupturing the fuel cell, on the back of one of these Busch cars...and what we dread at Talladega...has just taken place here on lap 68!"

2000

• Aaron's 312: on lap 88, Buckshot Jones slowed going into turn 3, behind him they made 3 wide and Derrick Gilchrist makes contact with Chad Chaffin, spins Chaffin around and taking out 7 other cars including series rookie Kevin Harvick, Anthony Lazzaro, Ron Hornaday, Kenny Wallace and Jay Sauter. The rain fell soon after and delayed almost 6 hours and the race moved to night.

2002

• Aaron's 312 race on lap 14 which is the largest crash in what is now named NASCAR Nationwide Series history with 27 cars crashing at the turn 2 exit, including Johnny Sauter (who was flipped), Scott Riggs, Joe Nemechek, Michael Waltrip, Joe Ruttman, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Kerry Earnhardt, Randy Lajoie, Shane Hmeil, Tim Sauter, Jay Sauter, Mike McLaughlin, and Coy Gibbs. This crash brought out a 40-minute red flag. The following day, a 24 car crash occurred in the Winston Cup race slightly farther down the back straightaway.

• Stacker 2/ GNC Live Well 250: With 5 to go Jack Sprague shot up the track into the wall, coming back across the track. What happens then is a huge wreck involving at least 14 cars on the backstretch. Also involved are Ricky Hendrick, son of Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, Kasey Kahne who flew in the air for about 10 feet, Scott Wimmer, Todd Bodine, and several more.

2003

• O'Reilly 300 (Nationwide): 10 Laps to go shortly after the restart, a huge crash in turn 1 involving more than 12 cars including Brian Vickers, Coy Gibbs, Michael Waltrip, Ron Hornaday, Hermie Sadler, David Reutimann, Scott Wimmer and Todd Bodine who was the leader gets clipped from behind by Mike Bliss causing a flat right rear tire. The wreck brought out a lengthy red flag. Joe Nemechek who missed the wreck go on to win the race.

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide): On lap 9 in turn 4, Johnny Sauter blew a left rear tire and collected around 18 cars. Michael Waltrip and eventual winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it through, but others were collected. Drivers include Mike McLaughlin, Scott Wimmer, Todd Bodine, Kasey Kahne, Kerry Earnhardt, Randy LaJoie, Lyndon Amick and many others. Ironically, the next day, the Big One would hit early in the Cup race on lap 5: under identical circumstances, Ryan Newman blew a tire in the middle of turn 1 and sparked a large crash.

2004

• Hershey's Kisses 300 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 8, Mike Bliss got loose coming out of turn 2, causing a 7-car pile-up that also claimed Johnny Benson, Joe Nemechek, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, Wally Dallenbach, and C.W. Smith.
  • On lap 38, another 10 cars were involved in a wreck when Paul Wolfe spun coming out of turn 4, collecting Donnie Neuenberger, Tim Fedewa, Kyle Busch, Mike Wallace, Larry Hollenbeck, Casey Atwood, Ashton Lewis, Martin Truex, Jr., and Josh Richeson. Wallace slid through the grass and crashed onto pit road.

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 99, while running four wide through the tri-oval, Mike Wallace bounced off of Greg Biffle and Jimmy Kitchens, sending him up the track into Tim Fedewa and Kasey Kahne. Also collected were Ashton Lewis, Johnny Benson, Paul Menard, Mike Bliss, Stacy Compton, Steve Grissom, and David Keith. Kahne slid across the grass and ended up in the next-to-last pit box.
  • With two laps to go, Clint Bowyer dove low and forced Bobby Hamilton, Jr. below the yellow line. They got together, spinning Bowyer into the infield and sending Hamilton into the middle of the pack, collecting Tracy Hines, Stacy Compton (again), Tony Raines, and Steve Grissom (again).

• Winn-Dixie 250 (Nationwide): On lap 51, Jeff Spraker got loose coming out of turn 2 and tapped Tim Fedewa in the left rear, spinning Fedewa across the track. Ashton Lewis swerved to the right to avoid Fedewa and hit Spraker, sparking an 11-car crash. Also involved in the wreck were Johnny Sauter, Casey Atwood, Justin Labonte, Derrike Cope, C.W. Smith, Kim Crosby, Gus Wasson, and Keith Murt.

2005

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 17, just before the field entered turn 1, Casey Mears attempted to go three-wide and clipped the left rear fender of Mike Wallace, who then clipped the right rear fender of J.J. Yeley, sending Yeley spinning into the outside wall. Wallace ended up sideways in front of the field in turn 1, resulting in a 16-car pileup. Other drivers that were involved include Reed Sorenson, Kenny Wallace, Kyle Busch, Shane Hmiel, Kasey Kahne, Johnny Sauter, eventual winner Martin Truex, Jr., Stanton Barrett, Aaron Fike, Stacy Compton, Carl Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield, Greg Biffle, and Joe Ruttman. All drivers walked away uninjured.
  • Later in that race on the 82nd lap, another 9 cars crashed when Joe Nemechek's 87 car was turned by Denny Hamlin into Mears, and then right in front of traffic. Mears got the worst of this one when his car was hit by another, sending his car up in the air, sliding about 100 feet down to turn 1 before stopping. They also collected Kevin Lepage, Paul Menard, Justin Labonte, and Brent Sherman, among others. In the end, due to the crashes, rain, and 3:30 P.M. start time, the race ended at nearly 7:30 local time.

• Winn-Dixie 250 (Nationwide): With 2 laps to go coming out of turn 2, Jon Wood makes contact with Randy LaJoie and taking more than 10 cars with them including Mike Bliss, Denny Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, Regan Smith and Brian Vickers.
• Dover 200: On lap 2, Matt Kenseth got loose and spun out of turn 2, causing a 14-car pile-up down the backstretch. Involved in the crash were Kenseth, Johnny Sauter, Michael Waltrip, David Green, Randy LaJoie, Kyle Busch, Kevin Hamlin, Paul Menard, Donnie Neuenberger, Mark Green, Jeff Burton, Tim Sauter, and Jon Wood. Neuenberger endured the worst of it as his car rolled over once. The flag was red flagged for clean-up.

2006

• Hershey's Kissables 300 (Nationwide): Coming out of turn 4 on the final lap, Stacy Compton and Elliott Sadler turned sideways and taking out 10 other cars coming to the checkered flag. Drivers include Michael Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Ashton Lewis, Reed Sorenson, Mark Green and Denny Hamlin who took the hard hit into Elliott Sadler's car. Tony Stewart won his second straight Daytona February race just seconds after the big accident start.

• Dollar General 300 (Nationwide): At Lowe's Motor Speedway after the halfway mark, Tony Stewart and David Reutimann spun off of turn 4 and collecting 10 other cars including Auggie Vidovich II who would involved another wreck on lap 114, Brad Baker, Mike Wallace, Mike Skinner and Regan Smith who gets the worst of it.

2008

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide): On lap 70 of 117, Kevin Lepage had returned to the track following a pit stop. Lepage come out the blend line onto the track right in front of the field. Carl Edwards made contact with Lepage, causing Lepage to catch air, and land back on all four wheels, causing a huge 15 car pile up. The drivers involved included Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson, Brad Keselowski, Cale Gale, Patrick Carpentier, Kenny Wallace, Steve Wallace, Marcos Ambrose and Kelly Bires. All drivers were uninjured. Lepage apologized following the incident.

2010

• DRIVE4COPD 300 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 68, Colin Braun attempted to pass the lapped car of Josh Wise coming out of turn 4. The two cars made contact, with Wise being sent into Jason Leffler. Wise and Braun ended up sideways on the front stretch, resulting in a 12-car pileup. Other drivers involved included Brian Scott, Joe Nemechek, Scott Lagasse, Jr., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Danica Patrick, Robert Richardson, Jr., Stanton Barrett, Johnny Sauter, and John Wes Townley.
  • On lap 92, Carl Edwards made contact with his rival Brad Keselowski on the back straightaway, causing Keselowski to clip Dale Earnhardt, Jr., also collecting Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Brendan Gaughan, Mike Wallace, Scott Riggs, Tony Raines, and Joe Nemechek. This crash brought out a red flag. Earnhardt, Jr. took the worst hit as his car flipped over after hitting the wall, and was hit by several other cars right after that. He was uninjured, and finished second in the Daytona 500 the next day.

• Aaron's 312:
  • On lap 20, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. turned his teammate Carl Edwards in the tri-oval, causing a 12-car wreck including Mike Wallace, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace and Michael Annett. This incident took place just before a NASCAR-mandated competition caution caused by the race postponement.
  • The second one took place with three laps remaining into turn 1 was an 8 car wreck including Colin Braun, Parker Kligerman, Kyle Busch, Steve Arpin and Morgan Shepherd who almost made it by before Kyle Busch hit him.
  • The third one took place on the final lap of the first green-white-checkered attempt proves to be a huge one when Jamie McMurray tried to get back in line on the inside then Clint Bowyer got in the back and turns him around and causing a huge 21-car pile up in turn 4, twice the size of a nine-car wreck that had occurred in that same turn during the Sprint Cup race earlier in the day. Paul Menard got into Dennis Setzer, sending Setzer into the wall and the catchfence nearly goes over and back on the track briefly catching on fire and landed back on 4 wheels. Setzer was OK. The other drivers involved include, Justin Allgaier, Jeff Green, Michael McDowell, Chrissy Wallace, Bobby Gerhart, Brendan Gaughan, Brian Scott, Brian Vickers, Scott Wimmer and Trevor Bayne. All drivers were not injured. Brad Keselowski was the winner after passing Kevin Harvick seconds before that accident happened.

2011

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide): On the backstretch on lap 88, just after a restart, Clint Bowyer got into the back of Kyle Busch while attempting the 2-car draft. Busch lost control and hit Michael Waltrip, who then hit Jamie McMurray. Brad Keselowski, Steve Wallace, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Mike Bliss, Derrike Cope, Tim George, Jr., Eric McClure, Robert Richardson, Jr., Josh Wise, and others were also involved. All drivers walked away uninjured.

2012

• DRIVE4COPD 300 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 104, Trevor Bayne and James Buescher made contact in turn 3. The two were able to save their cars, but Justin Allgaier checked up and turned down to avoid hitting them and ended up turning into Kenny Wallace, who in turn hit Benny Gordon, who was able to drive away. A total of sixteen cars were involved in this crash, including Reed Sorenson, Denny Hamlin, and Mike Wallace.
  • On lap 114, David Ragan got into the back of Sam Hornish, Jr. and turned him coming out of turn 4, triggering another pileup. Nine cars ended up involved, including Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Michael Annett, and Joe Nemechek.
  • In turn 4 on the last lap, leader Kurt Busch attempted to block Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Tony Stewart, and Elliott Sadler, who all had a run on him, all at once. They all made contact, with Busch ending up sideways against the outside wall, Stewart and Sadler pinned to the wall by Bayne, and Logano spinning. Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. both saw a hole at the bottom of the track and went for it, but took each other out. Kasey Kahne, Cole Whitt, and Blake Koch were also involved. James Buescher, who was 11th when the crash started, got through the crash to win.
• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide): After Danny Efland and Mike Wallace crashed on lap 115 to bring out the yellow flag and set up a green-white-checkered finish, the race restarted on lap 117. Down the backstretch on that lap, when Joe Nemechek got to the lead via a push from Kevin Harvick, Michael Annett, running 5th, bumped Harvick from behind, spinning him, and as a result, eight other cars get collected, including Danica Patrick, Austin Dillon, eventual race winner Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Tayler Malsam, Robert Richardson Jr., and Eric McClure. McClure had the worst hit, as he lost his brakes and pounded the wall hard, causing him to be airlifted to the nearby University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. The race was red-flagged for 19 minutes so that crews could extract McClure and fix the SAFER barrier.
• Subway Jalapeno 250 (Nationwide): Leaders Kevin Harvick and Mike Wallace made a swap in the draft. When doing so, Wallace gets into February race winner James Buescher, setting off a big wreck in turn 2. 16 cars were collected, jumbling the field, and eliminating many drivers who were contending for the lead/win. Some of those collected were Kyle Busch, eventual race winner Kurt Busch, Cole Whitt, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer who subbed for Denny Hamlin, Joe Nemechek, and many more.

2013

• DRIVE4COPD 300 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 116, Michael Annett crossed up the track in turn 1 and hit Austin Dillon, turning Dillon sideways into Elliott Sadler. That car forced him back up the track in front of the pack, collecting eleven cars. Other drivers involved included Johanna Long, Matt Kenseth, Jamie Dick, Mike Bliss, Hal Martin, Danny Efland, Jason White, and Kasey Kahne. The race was red-flagged for nearly 21 minutes. Annett was taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center with a fractured sternum, which sidelined him for most of the season.
  • 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 cars (out of a 15-car lead pack) crashed in total. Keselowski himself was then turned around by Sam Hornish, Jr.. Keselowski went up the track in front of Kyle Larson, causing Larson to be turned sideways after he was hit in the back by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. Larson pushed Keselowski's car into the wall as two cars (Brian Scott and Justin Allgaier) from behind this crash (after hitting the spining Regan Smith) hit Larson, causing his car to go airborne. Larson ended up with the worst hit of the crash, as his car then flew 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. Elliott Sadler impacted Regan Smith's spinning car, almost causing it to go airborne. 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 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. 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. In terms of injuries to fans, this crash was more significant than Carl Edwards' similar wreck at the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega when he struck Ryan Newman and hit the catch fence.

• Aaron's 312 (Nationwide):
  • On lap 92, Sam Hornish, Jr. and Trevor Bayne (in a two-car draft) tried to cut between the slower cars of Johanna Long (on the outside) and Eric McClure (to the inside). Long's car drifted down and knocked Hornish down the track into McClure's car. McClure turned Hornish into Brian Scott and both shot back up the track to start an 12-car crash. Those involved included Long, McClure, Scott, Hornish, Bayne, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson, Bobby Gerhart, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Robert Richardson, Jr., Tim Andrews, and Mike Harmon.
  • On lap 110 (the last lap due to the race being shortened by darkness), in a scramble to get back to the finish line, Regan Smith cut all the way across the track in order to pass the top two cars of Kurt Busch and Joey Logano. Smith cut down in front of Brian Vickers, who checked up and was turned sideways by his drafting partner Elliot Sadler. Vickers came up across the front end of Justin Allgaier and hit the left rear of Alex Bowman's car. Bowman came back down the track and clipped Sadler, collecting Allgaier in the process. Those cars proceeded to block the track and collect several other cars. At least eight cars were involved in the wreck, including Sadler, Vickers, Bowman, Allgaier, Landon Cassill, Josh Wise, and Jeremy Clements.

Camping World Truck Series

2000

• Daytona 250 (Camping World Truck Series): In the first ever Daytona truck race on lap 56 in the tri oval, a terrible fiery crash happened involving 14 trucks when Kurt Busch makes contact with Rob Morgan and Lyndon Amick then Morgan slid into Geoff Bodine and Bodine went airborne and destroying the catchfence and fliping over 5 times. Bodine's truck was totally destroyed. He was taken to the hospital for injuries and did not race again until May at Richmond. 9 fans were hurt from debris, all other drivers in that crash were uninjured. this huge accident causing a near 2 hour red flag to clean up debris and repairing the catchfence and it was one of the largest crash in Truck Series history.
• O'Relly 400: On lap 2, Chad Chaffin spins in turn 2 and collected at least 9 other trucks. The race went red for clean up. This race later was marred by Tony Roper's fatal crash.

2002

• Florida Dodge Dealers 250 (Camping World Truck Series): On lap 95 of 100, Jason Leffler made contact with Travis Kvapil and turns him head-on into the outside wall as several other trucks became involved in the accident. Matt Crafton was knocked through the grass and hit the inside wall son hard that his truck almost flips. The other dirvers involved were Bill Lester, Lance Hooper, and Lance Norick, totaling 6 trucks in all. Rick Crawford narrowly avoided being involved in this crash as he went through the grass and just missed the spining Lester.

2004

• Florida Dodge Dealers 250 (Camping World Truck Series): Just pass the halfway mark, Jack Sprague hit the back of Tracy Hines's truck and turned it right in front of the pack, causing a huge 16 truck pile-up, which was the largest crash in Truck Series history. The drivers include Ultra Motorsports Trucks are Ted Musgrave and Jason Leffler, Bobby Hamilton, Chase Montgomery, Randy LaJoie, Shane Sieg and Mike Skinner.

2005

• Florida Dodge Dealers 250 (Camping World Truck Series): On lap 48 in the entry of the frontstretch, polesitter Kerry Earnhardt gets loose and runs into other trucks, causing an 8 truck crash. Other drivers involved were Ron Hornaday, Jr., Chase Montgomery, Regan Smith, Shigeaki Hattori, Todd Kluever, Matt Crafton, and Brandon Whitt.

2007

• Chevy Silverado HD 250 (Camping World Truck Series): On lap 88 in the entry of the trioval, Chase Miller gets turned around and goes hard into the outside wall, almost flipping. Cale Gale, Dennis Setzer, and Brendan Gaughan are also involved.
• Mountain Dew 250 (Camping World Truck Series): Coming off turn 4 on lap 73, Jack Sprague tries to come to pit road but gets tapped by Johnny Benson and spun right in front of the pack. Eight trucks are involved, including Erik Darnell, Travis Kvapil, Ted Musgrave, Terry Cook, and championship contenter Ron Hornaday, Jr., who gets only little right side damage while trying to avoid but just being tagged by Cook.

2008

• Chevy Silverado HD 250 (Camping World Truck Series): On lap 19, Mike Skinner gets into Kyle Busch, turning him around in front of the pack. Matt Crafton, P.J. Jones, and others pile in.

2009

• Mountain Dew 250 (Camping World Truck Series): With 4 laps to go on the backstretch at Talladega, Johnny Sauter triggered a 11 truck pile up which that includes championship point leader Ron Hornaday, Jr., Rick Crawford, Ricky Carmichael, Mike Skinner, Brian Scott and Max Papis who almost made it through.

2010

• Mountain Dew 250 (Camping World Truck Series): With three laps to go, Alabama native Grant Enfinger bumped Todd Bodine into the lead pack on the end of the front straightaway. Seven trucks were collected, and Ron Hornaday, Jr., who led much of the race, ended up on his roof.

2011

• NextEra Energy Resources 250 (Camping World Truck Series):
  • On lap 76 of 100, Travis Kvapil cuts a tire and spun up the track, collecting about five trucks with him. Behind this, in the 2nd pack, Donnie Neuenberger gets into the back of Johanna Long as they all checked up, collecting several more with them. In all, 13 trucks were involved. Many lost laps or could not finish due to damage. Others involved in this wreck included Jason White, Ron Hornaday Jr., Brendan Gaughan, Todd Bodine, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Max Papis, and Jennifer Jo Cobb.
  • Then, on lap 98 in the trioval, Brad Sweet got sideways in the middle of the pack. He turned down the track and hit Parker Kligerman, causing Kligerman to cross the track and collect at least eight more trucks in the ensuing accident. The drivers involved in this crash included James Buescher, who led 55 laps, Kyle Busch, Todd Bodine, Chris Fontaine, Cole Whitt, Austin Dillon, and Max Papis.

2012

• NextEra Energy Resources 250: On the 1st lap of G-W-C attempt 2, through the tri-oval, rookie and eventual race winner John King turns Johnny Sauter into the wall. Behind them, Brendan Gaughan gets turned by Matt Crafton, who gets collected by Sauter, his teammate's #13 truck. In all, 11 trucks are involved, with many either moderately damaged or heavily damaged. The other drivers involved were: Nelson Piquet Jr., Ty Dillon, Rick Crawford, Dusty Davis, David Starr, Ryan Sieg, and Max Gresham.

2013

• NextEra Energy Resources 250: On lap 54 (entering turn three), Brendan Gaughan tries to go between Germán Quiroga and polesitter Brennan Newberry, but Gaughan ran out of room and turn Quiroga and Newberry into each other, causing a crash that collected 10 other trucks, 13 in all. Other drivers involved included Chris Fontaine, Tim George, Jr., Jason White, Ryan Truex, Chris Cockrum, and Max Gresham.

ARCA

1993

• Arca Daytona 200: on lap 3 in turn 3, Bob Schacht makes contact with Tim Fedewa, spins and collects 20 other cars in the process, including Bobby Gerhart, Jimmy Horton, Gary Bradberry, and Red Farmer. This was almost the same place that the Busch Grand National race had a similar wreck 3 years earlier.

2003

• Food World 250 (ARCA Racing Series): At least 9 cars were involved in turn 4 late in the race including Ken Weaver, Matt Hagans, Boris Said and NASCAR Future star Kyle Busch. This was the same race when Paul Menard got his first arca win.

2008

• Lucas Oil 200 (ARCA Racing Series): Kyle Krisiloff where he's running in second near at the halfway mark, got hit from behind in turn 4, spins right in front of the pack and takes out at least 15 cars including ARCA rookie Scott Speed. This big wreck brought out the red flag to tow wrecked racecars and clean up the debris.

• Hantz Group 200 (ARCA Racing Series): Michael Simko spun out in turn four and collected about five other cars.

2009

• Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (ARCA Racing Series):
  • As the caution came out for the spinning Peyton Sellers in turn three, Tom Hessert slowed down for the caution but got hit from behind by Brian Silas. Hessert was turned around and collected about six more cars, including Brett Butler, J. R. Fitzpatrick (who got airborne after going over Hessert's car), and John Wes Townley.
  • In turn four, Alli Owens got spun out by Eddie Mercer and collected 12 other cars, including Bill Baird, Joey Coulter, Benny Chastain, Steve Arpin, Ken Weaver, Frank Kimmel, Michael Annett, and Terry Jones,
  • In turn three on lap 41, Mikey Kile turned Mario Gosselin around in front of the field, collecting Matt Carter, Justin Lofton, Ryan Fischer, Brian Scott, Eddie Mercer, Parker Kligerman, Will Kimmel, Gabi DiCarlo and Chris Cockrum, among others.

2011

• Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (ARCA Racing Series): With 17 laps to go, Hal Martin wrecked, causing a 17-car crash which took out drivers including Steve Arpin, Milka Duno, and others.

2012

• Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (ARCA Racing Series): Numerous cars ran out of gas in the trioval coming to the checkard flag. Brandon McReynolds, the leader, was among those who ran out of gas. He slowed to the point where several cars behind him had to slow down considerably, creating a group of slower cars. A faster car turned another car in front of that group, collecting about seven cars, including McReynolds, Tom Hessert, Cale Gale, and Alex Kennedy.

• International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 (ARCA Racing Series): On lap 11, Steve Blackburn got spun into the infield by Brennan Poole, causing Mike Harmon to check up and be turned in front of the field by Nelson Canache. Harmon collected eight cars (which, along with Blackburn, Canache, and Harmon himself, totaled 11 cars involved), including Bobby Gerhart, Milka Duno, Alex Bowman, Joey Coulter, Drew Charleson, George Cushman, Mark Thompson, and Donnie Neuenberger. Bowman's car almost went airborne as the right side of his car went over the back half of Harmon's car (as Harmon was sideways on the track), lifting Bowman's right side tires off the ground.

2013

• Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (ARCA Racing Series): On lap 19, Justin Boston checked up and Darrell Wallace, Jr. got into the back of him. Boston and Wallace both spun out and collected six more drivers (totaling eight in all), including Steve Kemp, Brett Hudson, Drew Charleson, Caleb Armstrong, Clay Campbell, and Mason Mitchell.

• International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 (ARCA Racing Series): On a restart on lap 35, Thomas Praytor cut down in front of Milka Duno in turn one. Duno got sideways and checked up before being turned around by Grant Enfinger, who was being turned sideways himself by Mason Mitchell. 14 cars were collected in the ensuing crash, including Duno, Enfinger, Mitchell, Bo Lemastus, Donnie Neuenberger, Drew Charlson, James Hylton, Tom Hessert, Spencer Gallagher, Justin Boston, Buster Graham, Clay Campbell, George Cushman, and Galen Hassler.

Exceptions

Though The Big One has largely become expected during the four restrictor plate races mentioned above since 1990, there have been a few notable exceptions. There have been three caution-free races at Talladega in the restrictor plate era:

• 1997 Winston 500, 188.354 mph
• 2001 Talladega 500, 184.003 mph
• 2002 EA Sports 500, 183.665 mph (Last Caution-free event to date)

There have been no caution-free restrictor plate races at Daytona. However, the 1992 Pepsi 400 (170.457 mph), 1998 Daytona 500 (172.712 mph), and 1999 Pepsi 400 (169.213 mph), and the 2008 Daytona 500 (152.672 mph) were all remarkably clean with minimal incidents, seeing 9 or fewer caution laps.

External links

• "The Big One"- 10 Notorious Talladega Crashes