Late-Race Pileup Spawns A Never-Ending Cycle Of Restarts At The Brickyard 400

By  Stef Schrader

A restart attempt at today's NASCAR Brickyard 400 ended up bringing out the red flag because it made such a huge mess, which led to three more restart attempts. The No. 19 of Carl Edwards got loose on the restart, causing a big chain-reaction pile-up that collected a large chunk of the field.

The race had been yellow-flagged to pick up a piece of metal on the track, however, everyone knows that cautions often beget more cautions. Racers get caught up in the chaos of a restart, and the later it gets, the more risks they'll take. This time, the botched restart attempt caused enough damage to necessitate a brief red flag.

Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, Danica Patrick and Brad Keselowski were collected in the pile-up, and numerous other cars had to dodge sliding cars and collision debris.

Of course, this restart didn't end cleanly, either. With two laps to go, the No. 6 of Trevor Bayne ran Clint Bowyer's No. 15 car into the grass, causing yet another yellow flag that sent the race into overtime.

You would think this would be the last restart, but no! Jamie McMurray tried an aggressive move in front of the No. 14 of Tony Stewart only to lose control in Turn 1.

This brought out a second overtime restart attempt, which Kyle Busch finally rode home to a win after leading for 149 laps. Please refer to this Mad Lib for a post-race statement.

Busch is the first driver to sweep both the Sprint Cup and Xfinity races on the Brickyard 400 weekend from pole position.

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