Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/OnPitRoad.com
The first “big-one” in the Geico 500 at Talladega occurred on lap 71 taking out Roush-Fenway Racing driver, Trevor Bayne. The incident was triggered when Erik Jones No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made contact with the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray.
The contact sent Jones into the outside collecting numerous other cars. Bayne had nowhere to go and made contact with several other cars and then a hard shot to the inside retaining wall.
Bayne commented on the crash after being released from the infield care center. “We went into turn one and I saw Kyle Busch kind of get rooted up high. The third lane seemed to be the best for us. The car was on the splitter and the higher I could stay the better off we were. I went to the top to keep my run going and coming off the corner I didn’t see what happened but watching the replay it looks like the 20 got turned and turned up into us. It stinks. You try to manage your highs and lows though. We will move on and go to Dover next weekend. It is frustrating because Talladega is one of the ones you know you can win at and we wanted to do that today.”
