HAMPTON, Ga. -- The first stage at Atlanta Motor Speedway ran without caution, but the second featured multiple incidents. One crash even collected past Cup Series champions Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski.
The incident occurred on Lap 149. Elliott was three wide on the outside of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe as he tried to work his way back into the top 10 on fresher tires. Briscoe drifted up the track and made slight contact with Stenhouse, which quickly shot the No. 47 up and into Elliott's No. 9.
Elliott slammed into the outside wall and began to wiggle back and forth with an apparent broken toe link. His car spun to the left and clipped Corey Lajoie's No. 01 Ford. It then spun back to the right and into Keselowski's path. The driver of the No. 6 had nowhere to go, so he slammed into the No. 9.
We've got trouble on the frontstretch! @chaseelliott, @keselowski and @CoreyLaJoie are involved! pic.twitter.com/Otd8QY8t7c
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 23, 2025
Lajoie's car also sustained significant damage after slamming into the outside wall and then drifting down toward the apron. Tow trucks took the No. 6 and the No. 01 back to the garage area as LaJoie and Keselowski exited the race.
Elliott made it back to pit road so the team could work on replacing the toe link. He fell two laps behind the leaders as teammate Kyle Larson went on to win stage 2.
This incident had the potential of being much bigger considering the number of cars behind Elliott and Keselowski. However, they all avoided the sliding cars as the caution lights flashed.
"(Elliott) broke a toe link," Keselowski told Fox Sports' Regan Smith after exiting the infield care center. "I saw that initially, I'm like, 'He's fine.'
"I started to go and as soon as I went, it popped right in front of me. Just kind of nowhere to go. Broke the radiator."
This crash was Keselowski's second of the season. He finished 26th at Daytona after being involved in a multi-car crash on the final lap of the crown jewel race. The incident at Atlanta led to a 39th-place finish. He will now head to Circuit of the Americas facing a major points deficit.