The Daytona International Speedway gave drivers a very early taste of the challenges in the NASCAR Daytona 500, as a massive crash involved as many as 16 cars, just 14 laps into the race. Pole-sitter Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Blaney were among those whose night ended that early after the crash.

Aric Almirola, who was involved in the contact that started the wreck, was absolutely gutted after his race ended that early. He was frustrated that the pushing and shoving were happening that early.

He explained the contact with Christopher Bell and how it all went downhill for so many drivers in a matter of seconds. “We were just getting pushed too hard too early. It’s a long, long race,” Almirola said.

“Man, we were in a fine position, just sitting there riding around in the top two, three and the 20 (Bell) just came with a big run and hit me really hard in a bad spot. And it turned me to the right and tore up our race car and ended our Daytona 500 way too early,” he added.

Pole-sitter Alex Bowman’s night ends early in the NASCAR Daytona 500

Almirola spun into Bowman, who started the race as the leader. The new no. 48 driver spoke about his misfortune, but accepted it as part of the game, recognizing there is not much he can do in such situations.

“It looks like (Almirola) kind of got turned sideways there and I was the guy that got ran into… Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports; they built some really fast race cars. Hate that superspeedway racing works out that way sometimes, but that’s just part of the game,” Bowman expressed.

Ryan Newman entered the race seeking redemption after last year’s incidents on the last lap. However, his 2021 NASCAR Daytona 500 ended early as well with the 16-car wreck. He admitted to missing the early wreck but “got hit from some place”.

Ryan Newman has another unfortunate ‘Great American Race’

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“I had the wreck missed but got hit from some place & that was the end of our day. I just feel bad for (my sponsors), … and (my) getting wrecked out of the Daytona 500 so early, but unfortunately, that’s part of racing,” Newman expressed.

Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Matt DiBenedetto, Erik Jones were also caught up in the wreck.

Moments after the crash, the race was red-flagged due to excessive rain. That gave the others involved in the wreck some time to recover and regroup before the restart.

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