It didn’t take long for mayhem to strike in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
William Byron and Aric Almirola were fighting for third position after the green flag waved when Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro got loose, slamming into the side of Almirola’s No. 10 Ford Mustang, sending the Stewart-Haas Racing driver into the outside wall.
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“The 24 just got loose under me,” Almirola said of the incident. “He struggled to get going on the initial start. He spun his tires and then was just loose and out of control that whole first lap. When we went down in Turn 1 he lost it under me and wiped us out. I’m pretty frustrated. You work all weekend, all week getting ready for the event and to make it one lap is kind of uncalled for, so I’m disappointed, frustrated, but life goes on. We’ll go to Richmond.”
Almirola chalked up what happened to Byron’s inexperience — the Hendrick Motorsports driver is in his second year of Cup duty.
“I think he started to panic because he started to lose spots on the start because he spun his tires on the start, and probably a little bit over his head with the tire pressures and everything not coming up and he just lost it,” Almirola said. “He got loose underneath me, lost it and ran right into the side of us and wrecked us. Part of that comes with experience, I guess, but, either way, it doesn’t change the outcome for us today.”
That incident wreaked havoc for Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as things stacked up deeper in the field. Stenhouse Jr. was unable to slow his No. 17 Ford Mustang quick enough, slamming into the back of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota Camry. The contact sent Busch for a slide down the frontstretch, leaving heavy damage on both Stenhouse Jr.’s front bumper and Busch’s rear bumper. Busch started the race in 17th, while Stenhouse Jr. took off from the 19th position.
Almirola went to the garage and was done for the day while Byron, Busch and Stenhouse remained in the race, though Stenhouse was multiple laps down.