Skip to main content

Joey Logano’s Car Went Flipping Over Bubba Wallace’s in a Scary Wreck at Talladega

In Monday’s Hot Clicks: a frightening crash at Talladega, the latest installment of the Dodgers-Padres rivalry and more.

It was like something out of a movie

“I’m just happy I’m alive,” Joey Logano said after a terrifying crash during the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

Logano was running in third place at the end of the race’s first stage when his car was sent flying in the air. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bumped Denny Hamlin, who made contact with the rear of Logano’s No. 22 and sent Logano spinning. The car went airborne and was upside down when it flew right over Bubba Wallace’s No. 23.

The view from inside Wallace’s car is like something out of a movie. All of a sudden, Logano’s inverted car emerges from a cloud of dust and Wallace narrowly avoids creaming him. You can hear the scrape as Logano’s car slides over the top of Wallace’s.

Logano’s car eventually came to rest upright on the infield grass and he reported over the radio that he wasn’t hurt. Wallace came over the radio to say that his shorts had come out of the collision in worse shape than the car.

Logano said later that, while he was grateful to have escaped the wreck unharmed, he thinks NASCAR needs to do something about the conditions that lead to big pileups. His issue is with the style of racing at NASCAR’s two superspeedways—Talladega and Daytona—where the cars are fitted with speed-reduction devices (formerly the restrictor plate, currently the tapered spacer). Speeds were reduced as a safety measure following Bobby Allison’s crash at Talladega in 1987 when his car flew into the grandstand, but the slower speeds (topping out at about 200 mph) create different safety issues. Because drivers are unable to pull away, the cars clump together in large packs. That makes collisions more common and leads to chain reactions that can wipe out large numbers of cars.

“I don’t know what to think,” Logano said. “It’s a product of this racing, and on the one hand, I’m so proud to drive a Cup car that is safe that can go through a crash like that, and [I] can get out and speak about it. On the one hand, I’m mad about being in the crash, and on the other hand, I’m just happy I’m alive. On another hand I think, when are we going to stop? Because this is dangerous doing what we’re doing. I’ve got a roll bar on my head. That’s not O.K.

“I’m one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman was in [last year in the Daytona 500]. I just don’t think that’s acceptable. A lot of it’s due to this big spoiler and big runs, the pushing, and all that. It’s no one’s fault; Denny’s trying to go, and the 47’s [Stenhouse] trying to go. It’s a product of this racing. We have to fix it, though, because someone already got hurt, and we’re still doing it. So, that’s not real smart.

“But at the same time, I’m appreciative of driving a car that’s this safe and appreciate what Team Penske’s done for the safety of these cars as well, that I can live to talk about it and go again. I got lucky I didn’t get hit while I was in the air. Unfortunate for our Autotrader Mustang, but we’ll go on.”

Logano is fortunate that he wasn’t struck by another car while floating through the air. Wallace and Chase Briscoe, who was running at the back of the pack, deserve credit for being able to swerve around Logano and avoid putting him in even more danger. 

The best of SI

North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance is the most divisive prospect in this year’s NFL draft. ... A Mets analyst has also created a system for predicting Oscars winners. ... Georgia cornerback Eric Stokes could end up being the steal of the NFL draft

Around the sports world

The A’s had their 13-game winning streak snapped by the Orioles. ... A man who looks vaguely like Conor McGregor was accused of selling drugs while impersonating the UFC fighter. ... More than 78,000 fans attended an Aussie rules football game in Melbourne, the largest sports crowd anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic. ... PSG star Neymar, who was suspended for this weekend’s game, was busted watching from home on an illegal stream

The Padres-Dodgers rivalry just keeps growing

The series finale was a thriller, too

Steph put on a show again

And even a little defense

Baylor’s Hall of Fame coach is jumping ship for LSU

It sure looks like Blake is saying, ‘Who do you think you are? I am!’ here

Soft hands

Fred Brathwaite, the 48-year-old goalkeeping coach for the Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate, was pressed into emergency backup duty

You can’t make up baseball injuries

Not sports

A British teacher has been banned from teaching for three years after taking students to a strip club in Costa Rica while he was drunk. ... In rural British Columbia, 900 people lost internet access after a beaver chewed through a cable. ... A New York man who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 was reported to the FBI after bragging about it to a woman on Bumble. ... This new dinosaur discovered in China has wings like a bat

Lean into it and use a backward K

It’s beautiful

A man in Albania stopped a dangerous driver by jumping through the car’s open window

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.