LINCOLN, Ala. -- Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher were collected in a Sunday afternoon crash at Talladega Superspeedway, one that occurred on a stage 1 restart.
The incident happened as Buescher and Bell led the field to the green flag after a caution for a separate multi-car crash. Buescher was on the inside while Bell was on the outside for the restart. As the drivers gained speed, Bell received a push from teammate Denny Hamlin, which sent him spinning to the left.
The No. 20 Toyota collided with Buescher's No. 17, and then they both slid toward the inside SAFER barrier. Bell's car collided nose-first with the barrier in what was a major hit. This destroyed the front of the car and sent the radiator flying into the air.
Buescher's No. 17 had more of a glancing blow with the barrier, but it was enough to cause significant damage. The car went to the garage for repairs, but the team ultimately failed to continue in the race.
"That is a HUGE hit."
Here's another look at the crash for Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher at Talladega: pic.twitter.com/Jgo97gfJ7z
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"I think I feel really good," Bell said after exiting the infield care center. "I don't know, my HANS device, my seat, my belts, everything seemed like it did well. It was a big one, that's for sure.
"...Whenever you're the car getting pushed, you're completely at the mercy of the guy behind you. Denny (Hamlin) didn't do anything wrong. You have to push, you have to push to be successful. It's a product of the cars we race with this rules package."
Said Buescher, "I don't know what happened at this point. I'm assuming we were just two-wide. I have no clue to really say, but we had worked really well with (Ryan) Preece early on in the race and had been really smart about how we linked up and got to pushing, and it worked really well for us.
"We were right there off the corner, just kind of backing up to him to receive that first big push down the back and just seen the 20 come across the nose. Until I dive into it, I don't know anything else yet."