Daytona 500: The Big One involves 22 racecars, adds another Brad Keselowski heartbreak

DAYTONA BEACH — After coming out of the infield care center, Brad Keselowski walked over to a TV and stood in front of it.

“Sorry,” he said, turning to reporters after staring at the screen for 30 seconds. “Didn’t get a replay. Thought there’d be one, but...”

Then, the cameras whisked him away for an interview.

Quite simply, Keselowski got caught Monday. With eight laps left in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, he sat in second, jockeying for position with third-place Joey Logano as they trailed leader Ross Chastain. William Byron pushed behind them.

Alex Bowman bumped the rear of Byron, which caused the latter to zig and zag. He spun Keselowski, who smashed Logano and then the wall.

That stopped a whole bunch of traffic.

The red flag followed the chaos. Debris — along with the hopes and dreams of Keselowski and others — had to be scraped off the track.

Last year’s champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., fell into the wrecked pack. So did the likes of Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. NASCAR’s final tally included 22 cars.

The Big One, by very definition. That never comes as a surprise here, even after only one caution flag in the first 190 laps (not counting stage breaks).

“You definitely expect it,” Stenhouse said. “You try to be ahead of it.”

Or far enough behind it to sneak through.

“Pretty much how speedway racing is — boom, bang and ow and crash and all that,” Logano said. “... The wreck always starts at the front. You hope you’re in front of it. Second place isn’t far enough back.”

Byron recovered after Bowman’s tap and the Keselowski collision. He missed the carnage and put himself in victory lane a half hour later.

It was his first Daytona 500 win but his second checkered flag at the World Center of Racing. His first career triumph occurred at the 2020 Coke Zero Sugar 400.

“You just have to be one of the lucky guys,” Logano said of the annual accidents here.

Byron was.

Logano has won the Great American Race before, too, in 2015. Hamlin owns three Harley J. Earl trophies. Stenhouse said previous success makes falling short more palatable.

But Keselowski doesn’t carry that same feeling yet.

The 40-year-old has pulled excruciatingly close to a Daytona 500 championship. He took fourth in 2013. He improved to third in 2014. He suffered second-half wrecks in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

In 2021, Keselowski received contact from then-teammate Joey Logano while passing for the lead on the backstretch of the last lap. He crossed the finish line 13th. In 2022, he began overtime in the front row alongside eventual victor Austin Cindric but ended up ninth.

Just last season, Keselowski led 42 laps before a last-lap wreck swallowed him and spit him out in 22nd.

He thought he possessed another opportunity Monday. Instead, he never reached the stripe and ranked 33rd.

“We had a really good car,” Keselowski said. “We were in position to make the pass for the lead with just a few laps to go.”

He exhaled, with the race still going on in front of him.

“Now, I’m talking to you.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500: The Big One ends chances of Keselowski, Logano, others