Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

‘Big One’ rears its head late in Daytona 500 knocking Keselowski, Johnson out

NASCAR.com February 17, 2020 at 6:55 PM

The “Big One” stayed away for the first 180 laps of the 2020 Daytona 500 before rearing its head on Lap 181 in a major way with Brad Keselowski getting turned into the wall and collecting a host of contenders.

Keselowski appeared to get into the wall after getting loose from a push by Aric Almirola and Joey Logano. Almirola also suffered significant damage in an incident that appeared to collect nearly half the 40-car field.

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“It was just one of those racing deals,” Keselowski said. “…Unfortunately, it didn’t come together there at the end. I probably made a little bit of a bad move not blocking the 6 and 95. I didn’t know the 95 was that darn fast. He pushed the 6 like a rocket and I didn’t think they would come with

that big of a run and when they did, I didn’t cover it. I put myself into a position where when they did wreck, I couldn’t make it through.”

Among the other cars unofficially involved in the wreck: Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Matt DiBenedetto, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brendan Gaughan and John Hunter Nemechek.

Truex and Johnson were unable to head back out after not completing work in time under the damaged vehicle policy.