A multicar crash on Lap 223 took out several drivers contending inside The Chase presented by Mobil 1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Bubba Wallace contacted Josh Berry exiting Turn 2, sending Berry high into Bell and ultimately triggering the incident. The cars driven by Bell, Wallace and Berry became sandwiched together, spinning Wallace back into traffic with Bell suffering a flat left-rear tire and spinning farther down the backstretch. Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota climbed the left-rear wheel of Berry’s Ford and briefly got airborne before landing back down and continuing forward. Bell, Wallace and Reddick are all competing in The Chase.
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The crash occurred shortly after a restart after an apparent brake failure for Chase Elliott wiped him and Chase Briscoe both out of the Enjoy Illinois 300, taking out an additional two Chase contenders.
Elliott was running seventh on Lap 214 when his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet puffed black smoke on entry to Turn 1. He spun sideways and across the nose of Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, slamming both cars into the SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Sunday’s race marked the second of 10 races toward the championship. Elliott entered the race tied for eighth in the points standings as Briscoe was fifth. Briscoe was just 37 points behind series leader Denny Hamlin, with Elliott 72 points back.
Elliott’s brake failure marked the fourth of the 300-mile event, with fellow Chase racer Ryan Blaney suffering a brake failure of his own on Lap 155 of a scheduled 240.
Elliott was credited with a 31st-place finish, with Briscoe 32nd.
Three other Chase drivers were collected in an incident after a restart on Lap 228. Contact between rookie Connor Zilisch and Chase racers Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar created the 16th caution of the day. Zilisch tipped Gibbs into Hocevar, and Gibbs spun down the back straightaway, clipping AJ Allmendinger in the process. Allmendinger spun back up the track toward the outside wall, directly in front of Kaulig Racing teammate Ty Dillon and another Chase driver Daniel Suárez.
Suárez was unable to continue and was dealt a 29th-place finish. He also suffered damage in an incident during Stage 1.
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford and another Chase racer, suffered a brake failure on Lap 238, bringing his day to a premature end while sending the race into NASCAR Overtime. Buescher was scored 27th.