Until the 2000s, massive crashes were referred to as "major"[1][2][3] or "terrific"[4] crashes.
By the mid-1990s, competitors and media began taking note of the multi-car wrecks at Daytona and Talladega. In 1997,
Dale Earnhardt described a final-lap crash at the 1997
Pepsi 400 as "the Big Wreck".[5] News articles began using the term "Big Wreck" to describe such crashes in 1998,[6] and by 1999, its use was widespread. Drivers began to openly admit they were apprehensive of its possibility.[7]
One of the first times the term "The Big One" was used on-air was during the
Winston 500 on
ESPN October 11, 1998. Commentator
Bob Jenkins said during the crash on lap 134 "This is the big one that we had hoped we would not have."[8] One of the first published instances of the term "The Big One," was an April 18, 2000, article on
ESPN.com about a crash in the
DieHard 500.[9] The term was also being used informally by fans on
message boards.
During the
2001 Daytona 500,
Fox commentator
Darrell Waltrip used the term on-air to describe an 18-car crash in the backstretch on lap 173, as saying "It's the big one, gang, it's the big one. It's what we've all been fearing in this kind of racing is going to happen."[10]
By 2001, the phrase was widely used by competitors, fans, and in print and broadcast media.[11] It soon became standard NASCAR
vernacular, and it became a
retronym to describe past such accidents as well.[12][13]
The Big One has been the subject of
criticism of NASCAR.[13] Some have complained that the sanctioning body, promoters and media have celebrated the crashes.[13]
By 2009, Talladega Superspeedway marketed itself on the notorious crashes, with hot dogs, and later meatballs billed as "The Big One," with activities on Friday night after on-track action concludes billed as "The Big One on Talladega Boulevard".[14]
On the back straightaway on lap 173, fifth-place
Robby Gordon got into the back of fourth-place
Ward Burton, turning Burton left into third-place
Tony Stewart's right rear. Stewart's car went straight into the wall, catching air, landing on its side on top of Gordon's car, and tumbling across the track while getting hit by other cars. The car briefly landed on top of
Joe Gibbs Racing teammate
Bobby Labonte before falling onto the track and rolling to a stop in the infield grass. Burton's and Stewart's cars blocked the track, starting a chain reaction crash that collected 18 cars in total, including Burton, Stewart, Labonte, Gordon,
Rusty Wallace,
Steve Park,
Terry Labonte,
Mark Martin,
Jerry Nadeau,
Jason Leffler,
Elliott Sadler,
John Andretti,
Jeff Burton,
Andy Houston,
Jeff Gordon,
Kenny Wallace,
Buckshot Jones, and
Dale Jarrett. This crash, however, was later overshadowed by
Dale Earnhardt's
fatal crash on the last lap. Incidentally, Earnhardt had narrowly escaped being caught up in the lap 173 crash, nearly being hit by the spinning Ward Burton.[15]
On lap 189, the last lap of a
green-white-checker restart following
Jamie McMurray's spin with five laps to go,
Tony Stewart tried to block the advancing draft of
Michael Waltrip and
Casey Mears in turn four. As Stewart moved down to block Waltrip, he was passed on the outside by
Matt Kenseth (the only car ahead of the crash; would go on to win the race). Stewart came across the front of Waltrip's car, turned sideways, and spun up into the pack, collecting 24 other cars (25 in all): Waltrip, Mears,
Kevin Harvick,
Marcos Ambrose,
Sam Hornish Jr.,
Aric Almirola,
Jimmie Johnson,
Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
Paul Menard,
Clint Bowyer,
David Ragan,
Regan Smith,
Dave Blaney,
Jeff Burton,
Kasey Kahne,
Brad Keselowski,
Bobby Labonte,
Martin Truex Jr.,
David Gilliland,
Terry Labonte,
Landon Cassill,
Denny Hamlin,
Jeff Gordon, and
Kyle Busch. Stewart's car went upside down and landed on top of Kahne, Menard, and Bowyer before flipping back over and coming to rest at the exit of turn four. Gordon and Kyle Busch escaped the wreck on the apron with only minor damage to finish in second and third place, respectively. Most of the cars were caught in the initial pileup; however, five cars (Keselowski, Truex, Bobby Labonte, Cassill, and Gilliland) were swept up as the others cars began the spin down into the infield and another (Hamlin) spun out by himself and sustained front-end damage.
Travis Kvapil,
Greg Biffle, and
Ryan Newman avoided the wreck at the back of the pack to take top-ten finishes.[20][21][22] Following this crash, Earnhardt Jr., who had taken a few hard hits in the crash, was diagnosed with a concussion, requiring him to sit out the next two races (Charlotte and Kansas). He was replaced by Regan Smith at both of them.[23]
On lap 36, going through the tri-oval,
Matt Kenseth attempted to move to the inside to carry his momentum around the slightly slower car of
Brad Keselowski; however, he didn't have enough room and was turned by
Joey Logano. As Kenseth came back up the track, he collected
Tony Stewart,
Jeff Gordon,
Carl Edwards,
Kurt Busch, and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stewart and Gordon ended up pinned against the wall, with Busch's front end under Gordon's car and Stenhouse's front end under Busch's car.
Danica Patrick spun out while trying to miss both the larger crash and the spinning car of Edwards, but she did not hit anything. As her car came to a stop, she was t-boned by the accelerating Stenhouse, who couldn't see because of front-end damage and was trying to make it back to the garage.
Kevin Harvick was also involved in the crash, but his damage was only from running through debris.[24]
On lap 161,
Kurt Busch attempted to give Johnson a push going into turn 1, which sent Johnson into the outside wall and back into traffic, collecting an additional twenty cars, including
Greg Biffle,
Kyle Larson, Dillon (his second crash of the afternoon, as was Johnson's),
Ryan Blaney,
Denny Hamlin, and
Ryan Newman.
On lap 181,
Michael McDowell bumped into
Danica Patrick, sending her into
Matt Kenseth, sending Kenseth into the air and the inside wall before he flipped back over. While this took place, McDowell slid up into the outside, catching
Aric Almirola, sending him spinning down into
Joey Logano. This crash involved 12 cars, many of whom had already taken damage from the lap 161 crash.
On the last lap, headed through the tri-oval, when
Landon Cassill hooked
Cole Whitt into
Kevin Harvick, sending Harvick into the outside wall and into
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., putting Harvick on his side before landing back on four wheels. Also collected were
Martin Truex Jr. and
A. J. Allmendinger as
Brad Keselowski crossed the line to take the win. In total, 35 of the 40 cars received some damage during the race, and the first lapped car at the end of the race was Johnson, who finished six laps behind in 22nd.[26]
On Lap 169, as
A. J. Allmendinger tried to bump draft
Chase Elliott down the backstretch, Allmendinger inadvertently rammed into Elliott, and both cars went airborne off Turn 2, turning Allmendinger over (after contact from
Joey Logano), and collected an additional 15 cars including
Erik Jones,
Trevor Bayne,
Austin Dillon,
Matt Kenseth, and
Danica Patrick. Others in the wreck, including
Brad Keselowski, were able to beat the five-minute crash clock under NASCAR's new damaged vehicle policy to rally and finish 7th in the race.[30][31] The race was red-flagged while crews extricated Allmendinger from his car.
On Lap 54, on the backstretch,
William Byron blocked
Brad Keselowski, causing him to slow.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., however, failed to do the same, ramming into Keselowski's bumper and sending him into the outside wall and collecting 26 cars. This was one of two big wrecks set off by Stenhouse, who would later have to be escorted by security after the race for protection due to the negative backlash.[34]
On lap 65, following the restart for the previous crash, Stenhouse attempted to side draft
Kyle Busch, resulting in Stenhouse Jr. clipping Busch and shooting his car up into the wall, collecting seven cars in total, including
William Byron,
Trevor Bayne,
Jamie McMurray,
Erik Jones (who went on to win), and
Corey LaJoie.[35]
On lap 68, a massive melee involving 23 cars erupted in turn one. It started when
Kelly Denton rammed into
Ken Schrader, spinning Schrader four times before his car burst into flames. The other 22 cars who were trying to evade Schrader got into a huge pile-up when
Mike Dillon blew a tire.[40]
In turn 4 on the last lap, leader
Kurt Busch attempted to block the two two-car drafts of
Joey Logano and
Trevor Bayne, and
Tony Stewart and
Elliott Sadler, both of whom had runs on Busch and drafting partner
Kyle Busch. They all made contact, with Kurt Busch ending up sideways against the outside wall, Stewart and Sadler being pinned to the wall by Bayne, and Logano being sent spinning across the track as a result of left-rear contact with Kurt Busch's sideways car. Kyle Busch and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both moved to the bottom of the track, but Stenhouse turned Busch into the outside wall as they tried to miss the spinning Logano. A similar fate befell
Kasey Kahne and
Cole Whitt (who were just behind Busch and Stenhouse), with Kahne moving down into and spinning Whitt.
Brad Keselowski, who was behind Whitt, received contact from Kahne and Whitt, causing his car to become out of control.
James Buescher, who was 11th when the crash started, got through the crash on the track apron and slipped around Keselowski (as he was trying to regain control of his car) to win, followed by Sadler and Keselowski.[44]
In the trioval, coming to the checkered flag on lap 120, leader
Regan Smith was turned into the outside wall by second-place
Brad Keselowski. Chaos ensued behind as 14 out of the 15 lead cars crashed in total. After hitting Smith, Keselowski himself was turned around by
Sam Hornish Jr. and went up the track in front of
Kyle Larson, with Larson being turned sideways after he was hit in the back by
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Larson pushed Keselowski's car right-side first into the wall just as two cars (
Brian Scott and
Justin Allgaier) from behind this crash impacted the right side Larson's car after they had hit the spinning Regan Smith, causing Larson's car to go airborne and fly up into the catchfence. The front tires and the engine of his car were torn out and landed on the spectator side of the fence as part the fence was torn down by the impact of Larson's car. Simultaneously,
Elliott Sadler impacted Regan Smith's spinning car, almost causing it to go airborne as well. Also, past the start-finish line,
Alex Bowman spun through the infield and across the track, making hard contact with the outside wall. After Bowman hit the wall, Earnhardt Jr. drove under him, jacking the rear of Bowman's car up in the air (very similar to
Kyle Busch's crash in the
2009 Coke Zero 400 when
Kasey Kahne drove under him). The drivers involved were Smith, Keselowski, Earnhardt, Hornish, Larson, Scott, Bowman, Sadler, Allgaier,
Travis Pastrana,
Parker Kligerman,
Eric McClure,
Robert Richardson Jr., and
Nelson Piquet Jr. Race winner
Tony Stewart cut down through the infield and back up on the track to escape the melee.[45] 28 spectators were injured, 14 of whom were treated at the infield care center and 14 of whom were taken to nearby hospitals, including seven taken to
Halifax Health Medical Center in
Daytona Beach, six more being taken to
Halifax Health Medical Center in
Port Orange, and one being taken to another area hospital. Six of those spectators sustained serious injuries.[46]
On lap 57,
Kurt Busch and
Rob Morgan made contact sending
Geoff Bodine's No. 15 truck into the catchfence, destroying it in the process. The crash collected 12 other trucks.
With 37 laps to go,
Austin Hill received a push from
Todd Gilliland which turned Hill into
Zane Smith. Both drivers would hit the outside wall and go back into traffic, collecting 20 other trucks.
On lap 11,
Wade Cunningham clipped
James Hinchcliffe and then made contact with
J. R. Hildebrand,[51] initiating a 15-vehicle collision that killed
Dan Wheldon and seriously injured Hildebrand,
Pippa Mann, and
Will Power.[52] Wheldon was racing at 220 mph (350 km/h) and struck
Charlie Kimball while trying to avoid the collision, sending his car airborne. It flew a distance of about 325 ft (99 m) and hit the catch fence cockpit first before landing back on the racing surface and coming to a stop near the SAFER barrier.[53]
After a series of incidents with both the INDYCAR (part of the race was run on one day, then the other half a few months later, largely due to a combination of rain, weepers, and a day-one crash between Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden that injured the latter) and NASCAR (rain and weepers) in 2016,
Texas Motor Speedway officials repaved and reconfigured the circuit to reduce weeper issues. On lap 152,
Tony Kanaan made contact with James Hinchcliffe, triggering a major collision that forced seven other drivers to leave the race.[54] During the ensuing red flag that followed, INDYCAR officials and Bridgestone engineers agreed to use competition cautions and mandatory tire changes for the remainder of the race in response to continuing issues with blistering tires from the repaved circuit. Kanaan was assessed a 20-second hold penalty for his role in the crash.[55]
Until the 2000s, massive crashes were referred to as "major"[1][2][3] or "terrific"[4] crashes.
By the mid-1990s, competitors and media began taking note of the multi-car wrecks at Daytona and Talladega. In 1997,
Dale Earnhardt described a final-lap crash at the 1997
Pepsi 400 as "the Big Wreck".[5] News articles began using the term "Big Wreck" to describe such crashes in 1998,[6] and by 1999, its use was widespread. Drivers began to openly admit they were apprehensive of its possibility.[7]
One of the first times the term "The Big One" was used on-air was during the
Winston 500 on
ESPN October 11, 1998. Commentator
Bob Jenkins said during the crash on lap 134 "This is the big one that we had hoped we would not have."[8] One of the first published instances of the term "The Big One," was an April 18, 2000, article on
ESPN.com about a crash in the
DieHard 500.[9] The term was also being used informally by fans on
message boards.
During the
2001 Daytona 500,
Fox commentator
Darrell Waltrip used the term on-air to describe an 18-car crash in the backstretch on lap 173, as saying "It's the big one, gang, it's the big one. It's what we've all been fearing in this kind of racing is going to happen."[10]
By 2001, the phrase was widely used by competitors, fans, and in print and broadcast media.[11] It soon became standard NASCAR
vernacular, and it became a
retronym to describe past such accidents as well.[12][13]
The Big One has been the subject of
criticism of NASCAR.[13] Some have complained that the sanctioning body, promoters and media have celebrated the crashes.[13]
By 2009, Talladega Superspeedway marketed itself on the notorious crashes, with hot dogs, and later meatballs billed as "The Big One," with activities on Friday night after on-track action concludes billed as "The Big One on Talladega Boulevard".[14]
On the back straightaway on lap 173, fifth-place
Robby Gordon got into the back of fourth-place
Ward Burton, turning Burton left into third-place
Tony Stewart's right rear. Stewart's car went straight into the wall, catching air, landing on its side on top of Gordon's car, and tumbling across the track while getting hit by other cars. The car briefly landed on top of
Joe Gibbs Racing teammate
Bobby Labonte before falling onto the track and rolling to a stop in the infield grass. Burton's and Stewart's cars blocked the track, starting a chain reaction crash that collected 18 cars in total, including Burton, Stewart, Labonte, Gordon,
Rusty Wallace,
Steve Park,
Terry Labonte,
Mark Martin,
Jerry Nadeau,
Jason Leffler,
Elliott Sadler,
John Andretti,
Jeff Burton,
Andy Houston,
Jeff Gordon,
Kenny Wallace,
Buckshot Jones, and
Dale Jarrett. This crash, however, was later overshadowed by
Dale Earnhardt's
fatal crash on the last lap. Incidentally, Earnhardt had narrowly escaped being caught up in the lap 173 crash, nearly being hit by the spinning Ward Burton.[15]
On lap 189, the last lap of a
green-white-checker restart following
Jamie McMurray's spin with five laps to go,
Tony Stewart tried to block the advancing draft of
Michael Waltrip and
Casey Mears in turn four. As Stewart moved down to block Waltrip, he was passed on the outside by
Matt Kenseth (the only car ahead of the crash; would go on to win the race). Stewart came across the front of Waltrip's car, turned sideways, and spun up into the pack, collecting 24 other cars (25 in all): Waltrip, Mears,
Kevin Harvick,
Marcos Ambrose,
Sam Hornish Jr.,
Aric Almirola,
Jimmie Johnson,
Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
Paul Menard,
Clint Bowyer,
David Ragan,
Regan Smith,
Dave Blaney,
Jeff Burton,
Kasey Kahne,
Brad Keselowski,
Bobby Labonte,
Martin Truex Jr.,
David Gilliland,
Terry Labonte,
Landon Cassill,
Denny Hamlin,
Jeff Gordon, and
Kyle Busch. Stewart's car went upside down and landed on top of Kahne, Menard, and Bowyer before flipping back over and coming to rest at the exit of turn four. Gordon and Kyle Busch escaped the wreck on the apron with only minor damage to finish in second and third place, respectively. Most of the cars were caught in the initial pileup; however, five cars (Keselowski, Truex, Bobby Labonte, Cassill, and Gilliland) were swept up as the others cars began the spin down into the infield and another (Hamlin) spun out by himself and sustained front-end damage.
Travis Kvapil,
Greg Biffle, and
Ryan Newman avoided the wreck at the back of the pack to take top-ten finishes.[20][21][22] Following this crash, Earnhardt Jr., who had taken a few hard hits in the crash, was diagnosed with a concussion, requiring him to sit out the next two races (Charlotte and Kansas). He was replaced by Regan Smith at both of them.[23]
On lap 36, going through the tri-oval,
Matt Kenseth attempted to move to the inside to carry his momentum around the slightly slower car of
Brad Keselowski; however, he didn't have enough room and was turned by
Joey Logano. As Kenseth came back up the track, he collected
Tony Stewart,
Jeff Gordon,
Carl Edwards,
Kurt Busch, and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stewart and Gordon ended up pinned against the wall, with Busch's front end under Gordon's car and Stenhouse's front end under Busch's car.
Danica Patrick spun out while trying to miss both the larger crash and the spinning car of Edwards, but she did not hit anything. As her car came to a stop, she was t-boned by the accelerating Stenhouse, who couldn't see because of front-end damage and was trying to make it back to the garage.
Kevin Harvick was also involved in the crash, but his damage was only from running through debris.[24]
On lap 161,
Kurt Busch attempted to give Johnson a push going into turn 1, which sent Johnson into the outside wall and back into traffic, collecting an additional twenty cars, including
Greg Biffle,
Kyle Larson, Dillon (his second crash of the afternoon, as was Johnson's),
Ryan Blaney,
Denny Hamlin, and
Ryan Newman.
On lap 181,
Michael McDowell bumped into
Danica Patrick, sending her into
Matt Kenseth, sending Kenseth into the air and the inside wall before he flipped back over. While this took place, McDowell slid up into the outside, catching
Aric Almirola, sending him spinning down into
Joey Logano. This crash involved 12 cars, many of whom had already taken damage from the lap 161 crash.
On the last lap, headed through the tri-oval, when
Landon Cassill hooked
Cole Whitt into
Kevin Harvick, sending Harvick into the outside wall and into
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., putting Harvick on his side before landing back on four wheels. Also collected were
Martin Truex Jr. and
A. J. Allmendinger as
Brad Keselowski crossed the line to take the win. In total, 35 of the 40 cars received some damage during the race, and the first lapped car at the end of the race was Johnson, who finished six laps behind in 22nd.[26]
On Lap 169, as
A. J. Allmendinger tried to bump draft
Chase Elliott down the backstretch, Allmendinger inadvertently rammed into Elliott, and both cars went airborne off Turn 2, turning Allmendinger over (after contact from
Joey Logano), and collected an additional 15 cars including
Erik Jones,
Trevor Bayne,
Austin Dillon,
Matt Kenseth, and
Danica Patrick. Others in the wreck, including
Brad Keselowski, were able to beat the five-minute crash clock under NASCAR's new damaged vehicle policy to rally and finish 7th in the race.[30][31] The race was red-flagged while crews extricated Allmendinger from his car.
On Lap 54, on the backstretch,
William Byron blocked
Brad Keselowski, causing him to slow.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., however, failed to do the same, ramming into Keselowski's bumper and sending him into the outside wall and collecting 26 cars. This was one of two big wrecks set off by Stenhouse, who would later have to be escorted by security after the race for protection due to the negative backlash.[34]
On lap 65, following the restart for the previous crash, Stenhouse attempted to side draft
Kyle Busch, resulting in Stenhouse Jr. clipping Busch and shooting his car up into the wall, collecting seven cars in total, including
William Byron,
Trevor Bayne,
Jamie McMurray,
Erik Jones (who went on to win), and
Corey LaJoie.[35]
On lap 68, a massive melee involving 23 cars erupted in turn one. It started when
Kelly Denton rammed into
Ken Schrader, spinning Schrader four times before his car burst into flames. The other 22 cars who were trying to evade Schrader got into a huge pile-up when
Mike Dillon blew a tire.[40]
In turn 4 on the last lap, leader
Kurt Busch attempted to block the two two-car drafts of
Joey Logano and
Trevor Bayne, and
Tony Stewart and
Elliott Sadler, both of whom had runs on Busch and drafting partner
Kyle Busch. They all made contact, with Kurt Busch ending up sideways against the outside wall, Stewart and Sadler being pinned to the wall by Bayne, and Logano being sent spinning across the track as a result of left-rear contact with Kurt Busch's sideways car. Kyle Busch and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both moved to the bottom of the track, but Stenhouse turned Busch into the outside wall as they tried to miss the spinning Logano. A similar fate befell
Kasey Kahne and
Cole Whitt (who were just behind Busch and Stenhouse), with Kahne moving down into and spinning Whitt.
Brad Keselowski, who was behind Whitt, received contact from Kahne and Whitt, causing his car to become out of control.
James Buescher, who was 11th when the crash started, got through the crash on the track apron and slipped around Keselowski (as he was trying to regain control of his car) to win, followed by Sadler and Keselowski.[44]
In the trioval, coming to the checkered flag on lap 120, leader
Regan Smith was turned into the outside wall by second-place
Brad Keselowski. Chaos ensued behind as 14 out of the 15 lead cars crashed in total. After hitting Smith, Keselowski himself was turned around by
Sam Hornish Jr. and went up the track in front of
Kyle Larson, with Larson being turned sideways after he was hit in the back by
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Larson pushed Keselowski's car right-side first into the wall just as two cars (
Brian Scott and
Justin Allgaier) from behind this crash impacted the right side Larson's car after they had hit the spinning Regan Smith, causing Larson's car to go airborne and fly up into the catchfence. The front tires and the engine of his car were torn out and landed on the spectator side of the fence as part the fence was torn down by the impact of Larson's car. Simultaneously,
Elliott Sadler impacted Regan Smith's spinning car, almost causing it to go airborne as well. Also, past the start-finish line,
Alex Bowman spun through the infield and across the track, making hard contact with the outside wall. After Bowman hit the wall, Earnhardt Jr. drove under him, jacking the rear of Bowman's car up in the air (very similar to
Kyle Busch's crash in the
2009 Coke Zero 400 when
Kasey Kahne drove under him). The drivers involved were Smith, Keselowski, Earnhardt, Hornish, Larson, Scott, Bowman, Sadler, Allgaier,
Travis Pastrana,
Parker Kligerman,
Eric McClure,
Robert Richardson Jr., and
Nelson Piquet Jr. Race winner
Tony Stewart cut down through the infield and back up on the track to escape the melee.[45] 28 spectators were injured, 14 of whom were treated at the infield care center and 14 of whom were taken to nearby hospitals, including seven taken to
Halifax Health Medical Center in
Daytona Beach, six more being taken to
Halifax Health Medical Center in
Port Orange, and one being taken to another area hospital. Six of those spectators sustained serious injuries.[46]
On lap 57,
Kurt Busch and
Rob Morgan made contact sending
Geoff Bodine's No. 15 truck into the catchfence, destroying it in the process. The crash collected 12 other trucks.
With 37 laps to go,
Austin Hill received a push from
Todd Gilliland which turned Hill into
Zane Smith. Both drivers would hit the outside wall and go back into traffic, collecting 20 other trucks.
On lap 11,
Wade Cunningham clipped
James Hinchcliffe and then made contact with
J. R. Hildebrand,[51] initiating a 15-vehicle collision that killed
Dan Wheldon and seriously injured Hildebrand,
Pippa Mann, and
Will Power.[52] Wheldon was racing at 220 mph (350 km/h) and struck
Charlie Kimball while trying to avoid the collision, sending his car airborne. It flew a distance of about 325 ft (99 m) and hit the catch fence cockpit first before landing back on the racing surface and coming to a stop near the SAFER barrier.[53]
After a series of incidents with both the INDYCAR (part of the race was run on one day, then the other half a few months later, largely due to a combination of rain, weepers, and a day-one crash between Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden that injured the latter) and NASCAR (rain and weepers) in 2016,
Texas Motor Speedway officials repaved and reconfigured the circuit to reduce weeper issues. On lap 152,
Tony Kanaan made contact with James Hinchcliffe, triggering a major collision that forced seven other drivers to leave the race.[54] During the ensuing red flag that followed, INDYCAR officials and Bridgestone engineers agreed to use competition cautions and mandatory tire changes for the remainder of the race in response to continuing issues with blistering tires from the repaved circuit. Kanaan was assessed a 20-second hold penalty for his role in the crash.[55]