Blaney’s race ends in Talladega Big One wreck

NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 26, 2026

Blaney wreck starts

The Big One hit on Lap 132 in Stage 2 of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and Ryan Blaney’s night ended in the wreck. Blaney was in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, running three-wide on the backstretch, when he checked up. He moved from the middle lane to the high lane with Chase Elliott behind him, and the move sent him into Bubba Wallace and sparked the chain reaction that followed. The pileup swept up Elliott, Wallace, Daniel Suárez, Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain, Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Preece, Gray Gaulding, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Blaney. Eight Chase drivers were involved in all. The crash came with championship stakes attached, and it turned the stage into a fight for survival.

Damage hits contenders

Tyler Reddick suffered extensive damage in the crash, and Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota needed major front-end repairs. Joe Gibbs Racing kept working on Hamlin’s car after the damage in an effort to keep him in the race. Kyle Larson and Joey Logano escaped the wreck, a rare break in a crash that reached deep into the lead group. The sequence showed how fast a Talladega pack can unravel. One checkup in traffic became contact, then a domino effect that spread through the lanes and wiped out Blaney’s run. The wreck involved cars from different lines and different spots in the draft, and it hit several drivers with postseason pressure already hanging over them. That made the crash more than a normal superspeedway incident. It changed the race in a single moment and left teams sorting through damage while the stage kept moving.

Logano wins Stage 2

Joey Logano won Stage 2 after the incident, and the result came after the field had already been torn apart. The wreck collected several championship contenders and carried major implications for the postseason field and the title fight. At Talladega, a small gap can vanish fast, and this one disappeared when Blaney checked up in traffic and the lanes compressed around him. The result left Blaney out, Reddick damaged and Hamlin working on repairs while others tried to recover from the carnage. Logano’s stage win stood out because it came after the crash changed the shape of the race. Talladega often rewards the drivers who stay clear of trouble, and this time the list of those who got away was short. For Blaney, the race was over. For the others, the battle shifted from track position to damage control and survival, with the title fight hanging over every decision that followed.