Disaster struck for numerous teams Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway as the Big One unfolded during stage 2, collecting several cars.
The incident occurred on the Lap 100 restart as Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, and Carson Hocevar went four-wide. Gibbs and Haley drifted up. They made contact with Briscoe, who slammed into Hocevar before launching into the air.
This wreck occurred in the middle of the pack, so it sparked a chain reaction. Shane van Gisbergen slammed into the wrecking cars from behind while Brad Keselowski, Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson, and others spun. Cole Custer and Austin Dillon both sustained damage while trying to avoid the incident.
Multiple cars get together and there's trouble on the backstretch! pic.twitter.com/R21T7rf3Sl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 9, 2025
Herbst, Hocevar, Haley, and Briscoe were all unable to continue in the race due to the extensive damage to their cars. Keselowski, Custer, and van Gisbergen took their damaged cars to the garage. Custer and van Gisbergen were ultimately ruled out for the remainder of the race.
Gragson made it back to pit road, where the team replaced the toe link. He fell six laps down as the team made repairs.
Dillon cleared the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) clock on the subsequent restart, as did Michael McDowell, who had sustained damage in a separate incident. McDowell then took his damaged car to the garage.
"That was about the biggest you can crash at Phoenix," Briscoe said after exiting the infield care center. "We were all kind of three- and four-wide. I just climbed over the right front of the 7.
"Got myself in a bad spot. Unfortunate, but will try to learn from it, not do that again, and move on to Vegas."
Said Herbst, "It happened really fast. Was just chaos there off Turn 2. It gets so wide and then needs to funnel back down for the straightaway. Yeah, just got to go low to avoid it (the incident), but got collected in it. Frustrating for sure."
The Big One at Phoenix Raceway continued what has been a difficult start to the season for Keselowski. He finished 26th in the Daytona 500 and 39th at Atlanta due to multi-car incidents. He finished 15th at Circuit of the Americas, which was his best outing of the season. The wreck at Phoenix and the trip to the garage ensured that he would finish 30th or worse.