A huge crash marred the closing laps of Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500.
Austin Dillon gambled on pit strategy, then had little time to try to take advantage of it in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. He opted not to pit when most of the other front-runners, except leader Martin Truex Jr., did so during caution on Lap 288. That left him to restart second on older tires.
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He fell through the field and was back to fifth after the restart when Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson, running side by side, closed on his bumper. Running in a higher line than Hamlin, he got loose when Hamlin closed on him, then slid across the front bumper of Johnson’s car with the two making contact.
Both Dillon and Johnson's cars were sideways, but Johnson saved his car as Dillon went into the outer wall then ricocheted across toward the inside wall. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. clipped Dillon’s car as he came down across the track. A total of 13 cars were involved in the incident, including Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Paul Menard.
Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer and Michael Annett were also among those involved in the crash.