Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon wreck causes red flag after damage to the SAFER barrier

NASCAR has brought out the red flag following that wreck between Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon at Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski pushed a little too much on Carson Hocevar, cars went spinning, and Dillon ended up in the wall. He wasn’t the only one, though.

By the time this was all said and done, Keselowski, Dillon, and Ty Gibbs all hit the wall. That’s why the red flag is out. That SAFER barrier in the tri-oval has been damaged. Officials will need to get that repaired before we can race anymore.

Brad Keselowski almost flipped in this wreck. His car caught air, came down, and he slid to a stop after hitting the inside wall as well. Three-wide and four-wide racing leads to moments like this.

The red flag is out for wall repairs after this big crash at Talladega.#NASCARPlayoffs | @NBC pic.twitter.com/pM0QeBfrC4

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 1, 2023

This race is getting down to the nitty-gritty. Drivers are going to start making moves and one or two of those moves will be ill-advised. Talladega has this way of building momentum. It makes you want to hold your breath as it gets down to the last 20 laps or so.

Brad Keselowski is a great drafting racer. He is a really strong driver to have pushing you, that is unless your car doesn’t handle well like Carson Hocevar’s car. It cost not just those two the race, but other drivers as well.

Keselowski is fine on points, he won a stage today. It still might put him in a tough spot heading to the Roval.

Brad Keselowski out early at Talladega

While it stinks for those other drivers to be knocked out of the race, let’s be honest. Brad Keselowski is a playoff driver, it is more consequential when he wrecks at this point in the season especially.

Ross Chastain wrecked out earlier than Keselowski. So, there is a bright spot to look at if you’re Keselowski or a fan of his. Leaving things up to the Roval is not something that you want to do, though.

While the Roval doesn’t make for the greatest races, it can cause chaos in the points battle. Sometimes, guys just don’t hit the setup right and find themselves losing points to the cutline. Other times, someone you never expected has a tire strategy that works out just perfectly and gets them into the top-5.

Next week, we’ll know what Brad Keselowski has to do to make the Round of 8. For now, we will have to wait and see.