Chase Elliott won his first race of the 2019 season Sunday, taking the checkered flag at the GEICO 500 and automatically qualifying for the 16-driver, 10-race NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in the fall.
The first win of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, it was also the first time this season someone other than a Joe Gibbs Racing or Team Penske driver won this year. Elliott is only the sixth winner this season.
But he won under caution because of a wild last-lap wreck that took out multiple cars and threw Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet into a barrel roll on the inside of the 2.66-mile track. Larson and the other drivers involved were OK, but moments like this are always terrifying.
Even though NASCAR threw the yellow caution flag out, Elliott was the leader going into the last lap and had already crossed the start-finish line, which brought out the white flag to signal the final circuit. So a caution on the final lap only freezes the field and doesn’t lead to another restart.
The wreck appears to have been sparked by Elliott’s teammate, William Byron in the No. 24 Chevrolet. Here’s another look at Larson’s barrel roll.
After the wreck and being cleared by the infield care center, Larson told FOX Sports he thought that was the longest flip he’s ever had.
Larson explained:
“Initially, I thought I was just going to hit the inside of the wall pretty hard. And then right before I got to it, I felt it lift and was just hoping it would set down. And then it just started tumbling. That was probably the longest flip I’ve ever had. Still haven’t really seen a replay of it. But I just didn’t know if it’d ever stop. I knew I was flipping and just hoping that I wasn’t gonna get any closer to the catchfence, so yeah, was just a little bit scary. But thankfully, I’m all right.”
Larson got lucky because not much of his car was left when he finally stopped.
