WATCH: Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric and Others in Massive Wreck in NASCAR Xfinity Race at Daytona

Published 02/14/2021, 2:30 PM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

During the NASCAR Xfinity race at the Daytona International Speedway, a ‘Big One’ took place. With just 16 laps to go, Ty Dillon tangled with Daniel Hemric while battling for third place. As Dillon moved towards the bottom of the race track, he had not fully cleared Hemric, and he spun off.

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In the meantime, Hemric accidentally backed into Josh Berry. As a result of the ensuing chaos, Justin Haley and Jeb Burton got caught up. Other victims included Riley Herbst and Brandon Brown. Even the #51 of Jeremy Clements got inadvertently involved in the crash.

This crash brought out the eighth caution flag of the night and would eventually lead to overtime. What made it heart-breaking for Dillon was the fact that he lost the tow from Berry. As soon as he made the move on Hemric, poor old Josh Berry was unable to follow him.

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The crash saw many missed chances in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity opener

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Owing to the crash, Haley lost his chance to grab a fourth consecutive superspeedway win. Had he done so, he would have matched Dale Earnhardt Jr for the most consecutive Xfinity superspeedway wins. Obviously, Ty Dillon is going to feel very small after this accident and hope for a do-over.

At the same time, he cannot shoulder the blame entirely, as he had to take that risk. That was his golden opportunity to through caution into the wind and try to gun for the win. It was just unfortunate that the move did not pay off on this occasion. While all the carnage happened around him, Jeb Burton was thanking his lucky stars.

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The #10 driver barely missed getting tangled up in the chaos. Truthfully speaking, in these kinds of crashes, the drivers are simply helpless passengers. So, there was nothing they could really do to save themselves. While all this unfolded, Austin Cindric rabbited away and won the race.

MORE – WATCH: Austin Cindric Earns NASCAR Xfinity Win at Daytona in Highly Dramatic Overtime Finish

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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