Briscoe: "That's about the biggest you can crash at Phoenix" after huge wreck

On Lap 99, a multi-car accident collected several cars at Phoenix Raceway, leaving seven different drivers unable to continue. On a Stage 2 restart, the field fanned out four and even five-wide through Turns 1 and 2. Usually, it all gets sorted by the time they make it onto the backstretch, but not this time.

Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe made contact, sending the No. 19 of Briscoe up off the ground before it shot up the track. He slammed into the side of Carson Hocevar and pancaked the Spire Motorsports driver against the wall, in an impact violent enough to blow Briscoe's right side window out. Hocevar's own car jumped off the ground for a second as he was sandwiched between the out-of-control Briscoe and the outside wall. Most of those around them had nowhere to go as the field piled into the mess.

Briscoe, who earned his first career Cup win at Phoenix three years ago, said of the wreck: "That's about the biggest you can crash at Choenix. It was a big one. On that restart, we were all kind of three, four wide. I just climbed over the 7's [Haley] right front ...Yeah, got myself in a bad spot. Was probably trying to fade a little more left with the No. 77 [Hocevar] on my right rear and yeah, just went over the No. 7’s right front […] unfortunate but try to learn from it and not do it again and go onto (Las) Vegas.”

Haley, Shane van Gisbergen, Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer and Riley Herbst all suffered enough damage to go behind the wall. Noah Gragson was among the several other unfortunate drivers who also got damage but were able to continue.

"Yeah, it's frustrating," added Hocevar, who started third. "Our car was fast. I felt like our Chevrolet was pretty good. We just got behind on pit stops, just playing the tire game. Shouldn't have been back there ... we had good track position, but the way that cycle worked out, we were just back there in the mess. Unfortunate, but our Spire cars are fast and I'm sure they'll be fast again."