TALLADEGA, Ala. — Joey Logano climbed out of an overturned race car Sunday and thanked the safety crew for getting him right-side up.
“Just happy to be alive,” Logano said after his No. 22 Team Penske Ford flipped and slid upside down across the track in a late-race Talladega wreck during the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The crash, which came with five laps remaining in the race, was the second multicar pileup of the afternoon at the 2.66-mile Alabama oval. Together, the two wrecks reshuffled the Chase standings with two races left.
Logano described the moment his car went airborne in blunt terms. “It was very much a ‘Talladega Nights’ moment, like, ‘Oh, no. I’m upside down. This is not good,'” he said, according to USA Today. “But I can’t thank the safety crew enough. They did an amazing job flipping that thing over.”
He added: “It’s a scary feeling to be honest with you because you’re upside down and you can’t get out.”
How Logano’s Talladega wreck unfolded
The first Big One struck on Lap 132 during Stage 2, when contact on the backstretch between Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace triggered a 12-car pileup that collected eight Chase contenders: Blaney, Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suárez and Ryan Preece. Blaney, Reddick and Elliott finished 36th, 37th and 38th; Hamlin’s damaged Toyota recovered to finish eighth.
Logano avoided that one. His trouble came on Lap 183, with five laps left in regulation. Running inside the top five, he was boxed between Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet ahead and Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet behind. Contact from Hocevar got Logano’s car loose, sending him into the wall.
Logano’s Ford then went airborne after clipping Chase Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, landed roof-down, slid with sparks trailing, and came to rest upside down. NASCAR red-flagged the race for roughly 13 minutes while crews worked to right the car.
Logano climbed out under his own power and was checked and released from the infield care center. Five other Chase drivers were caught in the same 15-car incident: Austin Cindric, Suárez, Chris Buescher, Briscoe and Hocevar. Briscoe finished 33rd.
Riley Herbst, driving the No. 35 Toyota for 23XI Racing, absorbed one of the hardest hits in the wreck, clipping the outside wall before going into the inside SAFER barrier at high speed. Herbst was helped from the car, evaluated and released from the infield care center with his left wrist wrapped.
Track littered with debris after two Big Ones
Both wrecks left cars and debris scattered across the high-banked oval, forcing extended cautions while crews cleared the surface. Earlier incidents include a brake caliper that became track debris during a caution-filled race at Gateway, and a wall strike that showered Charlotte Motor Speedway with debris mid-pit-stop cycle. NASCAR’s recurring debris problem has drawn comparisons to FOD management on airfields, explored in a look at what airfield managers can learn from stock-car racing.
Larson wins, championship picture shifts
The race restarted and went to overtime, with Kyle Larson crossing the finish line four-hundredths of a second ahead of teammate William Byron, according to the Associated Press.
Logano had led 23 laps and won Stage 2 before the late wreck ended his day with a 34th-place finish. He entered Talladega sixth in the Chase standings, 44 points behind Larson. He leaves Talladega fifth, now trailing Larson by 100 points with two races remaining, at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“It was a hell of a ride,” Logano said. “I don’t know if I should be mad that I wrecked or happy to be alive. I think I’m more happy to be alive.”
Blaney, Reddick and Elliott from the first wreck, and Logano and Briscoe from the second, took the biggest hits to their title hopes from Sunday’s two Big Ones, according to Speedcafe. Herbst, who suffered a concussion earlier this season at New Hampshire, is not in this year’s 16-driver Chase field; he was eliminated from playoff contention after Richmond, before the postseason began.
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Sources
- NASCAR.com — “Late-race wreck hits field at Talladega; Logano, Herbst incur heavy damage” (Oct. 25, 2026)
- NASCAR.com — “‘Big One’ strikes field in Stage 2 at Talladega; eight Chase drivers involved” (Oct. 25, 2026)
- Associated Press — Talladega YellaWood 500 race recap (Oct. 25, 2026)
- USA Today — “Joey Logano’s car flips at Talladega’s YellaWood 500” (Oct. 25, 2026)
- Speedcafe — Talladega Cup Series results and reaction (Oct. 26, 2026)
- Beyond the Flag — Official NASCAR Cup Series standings after Talladega (Oct. 26, 2026)
- FOX Sports — 2026 NASCAR Chase Tracker (eliminated drivers)
