Michael McDowell collects Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, others after going airborne at Daytona

The “big one” part two has happened in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

With nine to go at Daytona, Austin Cindric got into race leader Michael McDowell, who went airborne and slammed into the hood of Joey Logano. 14 cars total were involved in the wreck, including some heavy hitters such as Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.

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OH MY GOODNESS.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL SPINS AND THERE'S A HUGE CRASH. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/lJ2TvbM3Ln

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 25, 2024

It’s a disappointing end to a solid night for McDowell up to that point, who entered Saturday’s race needing a win to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He started on the pole and led 27 laps, routinely racing near the front of the pack. He now heads to Darlington next Sunday in another must-win situation.

This was also less than ideal for Wallace, who came into the race one point below the playoff cutline. Daytona is one of his better tracks, and it was clear he had a car capable of winning. Harrison Burton instead took the checkered flag, the worst-case scenario for Wallace. Burton is now playoff bound as a first-time winner after coming into the race 34th in the points standings.

Harrison Burton’s win at Daytona creates playoff cutline chaos

Wallace has fallen 21 points below the playoff cutline going into Darlington, the final race of the regular season. Wallace did finish sixth at Daytona, but that wasn’t on his mind after the race. Speaking with NBC Sports, a frustrated Wallace called his performance this season “unacceptable” when compared to his 23XI Racing teammate in Reddick, who is racing for the regular season points championship.

“Got one car fighting for a regular season championship and another on the bubble. It’s unacceptable,” Wallace said. “I’ll take all that weight on my shoulders. I should’ve won multiple times, and I haven’t. We don’t even deserve to be here, and we aren’t. Gotta go win, that’s it.”