Record NASCAR crash sees 28 cars collide in chaotic chain reaction... before race miraculously resumes

The biggest crash at Talladega in NASCAR Cup Series history unfolded in Alabama on Sunday as 28 cars were caught up in a chaotic wreck.

Only a handful of drivers escaped the pile up at Talladega Superspeedway, which occurred with five laps to go of the YellaWood 500, when race leader Austin Cindric was shoved by Brad Keselowski's Ford.

Keselowski had been tapped by Joey Logano and within moments a chain reaction left more than two dozen cars spinning off the track.

The accident, the largest ever at Talladega in Cup history, also involved championship hopefuls Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez.

Smoke billowed skywards as cars continued to crash into one another, while the few drivers who avoided damage sped away from the debris. 

Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin were among the lucky few to reportedly escape the collision, which led to a lengthy delay at Talladega.

After the race eventually restarted, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged out Keselowksi to win the Cup Series' YellaWood 500 in a photo finish.

Following a lengthy red-flag period, Stenhouse led Keselowski on the restart, but Keselowski pulled ahead in Turn 3 on the final lap.

However, William Byron's hard push gave Stenhouse the momentum he needed in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car to beat Keselowski by 0.006s for his fourth career win and first since the 2023 Daytona 500.

Byron's third-place finish advanced him to the Round of 8. Kyle Larson and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.

Reigning series champ Ryan Blaney wrecked at the end of Stage 2 and finished 39th.

After being nudged by Bowman, Blaney's No 12 bounced off Shane van Gisbergen on the inside, angled right and headed nose-first into the frontstretch wall in a hard crash.