NASCAR halts Atlanta Cup race after huge crash collects half the field

The Big One caused a brief red flag with LaJoie saying "we're pushing like we're damn bumper cars at Frankie's Fun Park"

Early in the second stage at Atlanta, complete chaos broke out on Lap 69. John-Hunter Nemechek was running inside the top ten when the race got back underway, but down the back stretch, a bump from Denny Hamlin sent him into the outside wall.

Immediately, cars started spinning and with moments, the entire track was blocked. 23 cars were collected in one of the biggest crashes you will ever see. NASCAR stopped the race as the lengthy cleanup got underway.

It was a shocking accident that turned the race track into a junkyard with 23 cars involved. The following drivers were forced to go behind the wall are completely fell out of the race: Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson and Josh Berry. Most of them never returned to the track due to the severity of the damage.

Corey LaJoie is running a part-time schedule this year and he had plenty to say after being taken out of the race.

"We see people pushing like dummies early, and then I just come in here and get pushed into it," said LaJoie after being shown the replay. "I come out of the smoke and every corner on my Mustang was knocked off of it. Unfortunately, that was the end of my day.

“I don't know what we're doing. We just started the second stage. I don't know why we're pushing like we're damn bumper cars at Frankie's fun park. That's not to be surprised. I think there's a lot of guys who don't make wise decisions driving these things on speedways."

Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, and Denny Hamlin

Photo by: Krista Jasso / Getty Images

Logano, who started the race from pole position, was among those who were unable to continue.

"I was in the middle of it and I haven't seen a replay to even know what happened. Cars were sideways and you hit the brakes and everyone is just running into each other. Just a speedway wreck. Wrong place at the wrong time. Tried to win the stage and we couldn't get that done, and you got to pay the piper when you go to the back there."

Upon seeing the replay, this was Logano's reaction: "The whole field wrecked, and I'm just in the soup there. Oh my gosh -- look at that. Oh, that's horrible."

He then added with a smile: "Sometimes you're the ball, sometimes you're the bat. Tonight we were the ball."

Briscoe, who won last week's race at Pocono, said of his race-ending crash: “Yeah, I don’t know how bad our damage was. They were fixing it, and we were about ready to go, and I guess NASCAR came over there and saw that our chassis was broke or bent or something and were like, you can’t go back out. So, kind of a waste of 30 minutes working on it. Just unfortunate night for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota."