The opening moments of Stage 3 turned into a nightmare for several NASCAR Chase contenders at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe spun during a frantic restart with 100 laps remaining in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, triggering a crash that also swept up William Byron and Chase Elliott.
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Wallace was on the inside as the field went four-wide entering the corner, with Briscoe alongside him and Ryan Preece and Josh Berry racing to their outside. Seconds later, Wallace and Briscoe were both spinning as the tightly packed field scrambled to avoid them.
Byron couldn’t.
The No. 24 Chevrolet drove into the incident as Wallace came across the track, while Elliott nearly escaped before also being tagged in the chaos.
The caution came back out almost immediately after the restart.
And Wallace was furious.
Bubba Wallace Blasts Chase Briscoe After Gateway Contact
Wallace made it clear over his team radio who he believed had left him without enough room.
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“We’re killed in the left front,” Wallace said. “I mean, what the [expletive], dude?”
He later apologized to his team before again pointing toward Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota.
“I’m sorry, I thought we would get some more room from the [expletive] 19,” Wallace said over the radio.
The incident unfolded with Wallace and Briscoe running side-by-side in the middle of an exceptionally tight four-wide battle.
Replay showed both Toyotas losing control, but Wallace’s radio comments indicated he believed Briscoe had crowded him as they fought for space.
Briscoe’s team initially called him to pit road following the incident. Elliott reported that his car was OK, while Briscoe’s crew also indicated the No. 19 remained in good enough condition to continue.
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The immediate damage, however, was only part of the story.
Four NASCAR Chase Drivers Caught Up in Stage 3 Chaos
Sunday’s race is only the second stop of NASCAR’s 10-race Chase, making an incident involving four championship contenders especially significant.
Briscoe, Wallace, Byron and Elliott all entered Gateway among the 16 drivers still racing for the Cup Series title.
The crash came at a particularly bad time for Byron.
His Chase already took a massive hit one week earlier at Darlington, where mechanical trouble left the defending Cup Series champion 37th in the Southern 500. Gateway presented an opportunity to begin digging out of that early hole, only for Byron to find himself with nowhere to go when the cars ahead of him spun.
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Wallace had plenty at stake himself after entering Gateway 10th in the Chase standings.
The timing of the accident only added to the frustration. The field had just returned to green for the beginning of the final stage, with pole-sitter Joey Logano leading Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry and Ryan Preece among the drivers at the front.
Instead of settling into a 100-lap run to the finish, the race went straight back under caution.
Exactly how costly the accident proves for each Chase driver won’t be known until the checkered flag.
But in a postseason where every point follows the drivers all the way to the championship finale, four title contenders getting tangled together with 100 laps remaining was about the last thing any of them needed.
And Wallace left little doubt about how he felt it started.
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