At the conclusion of Stage 1 , the field filed down pit road with Joey Logano leading both the race and the title fight. While pitstops were fairly straightforward for the field, a highly unusual moment was soon to follow.
The official Toyota Camry pace car was herding the field to the restart to begin the second stage when a major lapse in judgement was made. The pace car was about to miss its pit road turn-in and abruptly turned down at the last second, crossing right in front of new race leader Chase Elliott.
However, the pace car made the move a moment too late and hit the barrels at pit road entry while spinning sideways. The wounded pace car then retreated behind the wall and backup was brought out.
Of course, the race did not go green and was instead placed under red flag conditions on Lap 69 of 312. Crews immediately went to work to clean up the mess from the spilled sand barrels. The stoppage only lasted a few minutes.
"Was that Michael Phelps?" asked Ryan Blaney, referencing the fact that the decorated Olympian was the honorary pace car driver for the start of the race. And no, he was no longer behind the wheel.
Logano could only laugh while Denny Hamlin commented: "This is just so NASCAR." Meanwhile, Elliott's crew chief Alan Gustafson wanted to make sure the pace car knew it was on the damaged-vehicle policy and had six minutes to fix it as the entire field poked fun at the bizarre incident. It was a great moment of levity during an otherwise tense title-decider.
While pure speculation, the mistake could have come as a result of the unusual setup at Phoenix Raceway. The pace car is supposed to peel off at the exit of Turn 2 instead of the exit of Turn 4 due to the series flipping the backstretch and front stretch a few years ag
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