Chicago NASCAR Cup pile-up blocks track, causes early red flag

After qualifying third, Carson Hocevar had high hopes for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at the Chicago Street Course. But while his teammate Michael McDowell passed Shane van Gisbergen and led the opening lap, Hocevar slipped back to seventh.

Just three laps into the race, Hocevar clipped the wall at the apex of Turn 10, shooting out into the outside wall. At that point, he lost control and spun in front of the field. 

Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, and reigning Supercars champion Will Brown all plowed into it, suffering damage. The track was nearly completely blocked as well. A.J. Allmendinger made it through, but not without being clipped by Keselowski on his way by. 

Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain led the lucky ones through a small opening between the pile-up and the concrete wall. There was also some contact between cars behind the main crash as drivers tried to slow, with Cole Custer sustaining some damage after hitting Erik Jones.

NASCAR was forced to red flag the race in order to clean up the mess. The stoppage lasted 16 minutes.

This will also impact the $1 million in-season bracket challenge as Hocevar was part of the final 16, facing off against Tyler Reddick in Chicago. Keselowski was facing Ty Dillon, who entered the tournament as the bottom seed.

William Byron wasn’t involved in the wreck, but the championship leader had his own issues early, going to the pits and falling off the lead lap after experiencing clutch issues.

Photos from Chicago – Race