NASCAR Cup Series

The 'Big One' strikes early in 15-car Sprint Cup wreck at Talladega

Published May. 3, 2015 2:49 p.m. ET

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The "Big One" struck early in Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, collecting a total of 15 cars.

The incident took place on Lap 46 of 188 when Trevor Bayne's No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford broke loose in the middle of the pack exiting Turn 2. Unable to keep the car under control, Bayne's spinning car blocked the track and stacked the field up behind him.

Along with Bayne, the following drivers were involved: Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Landon Cassill, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Danica Patrick, Alex Bowman, Brendan Gaughan, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick.

Walking out the infield care center, Bayne said the rear of the car was sucked around when Paul Menard had a run to the outside of his No. 6 Ford.

"It feels like you get hit in the bumper when somebody is that tight on your door. There's nothing you can do about it," Bayne said. "It sucks you around, you try to correct and you know it's going to over-correct, so you're just anticipating and trying to catch the car as best you can."

Frustrated he was involved in the incident, Larson said Bayne has been loose the past few races at the restrictor plate tracks.

"I don't know if it was his set-up, but I was really loose, too," he said. "I almost lost it a few times. I don't know if it's bad luck on his part, but it seems like at least every time I've run on a plate track he's gotten spun somehow. It gets frustrating. I'm not mad at him. It's just racing here."

David Ragan was hoping for a solid finish to his time in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but instead was behind the wall with a heavily damaged car.

"It's disappointing to end with a torn-up race car here at Talladega, but you've got to take the good with the bad, and sometimes you have that," Ragan said. "I think a couple of cars got crossed up and spun in front of me."

NASCAR red-flagged the race for a total of 11 minutes and 32 seconds as track workers cleaned up the wreck on the backstretch. In the garage teams scrambled to make repairs and assess the damage to their cars.

While the incident collected 15 cars, only Bayne and Larson were officially knocked out of the race. All of the other cars were able to continue, some after lengthy repairs.