Bubba Wallace Leads Before Huge 26-Car Crash Breaks Out in NASCAR Race

Most of those involved were able to continue, but a few — including Wallace and previous Talladega winners Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — couldn't resume.

“Got wrecked there, unfortunately,” said Wallace, who'd been leading on the 2.66-mile track on three separate occasions before the crash. “Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars.

"Got to debrief, got to be better," he added, before saying he'd "put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun.”

Blaney said afterward that "we all just got pinballing off each other there," and explained that nobody was to blame for the incident. "We all just kind of get bumping and banging, and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is," he went on. "It definitely stinks to be out early."

The record for the most cars involved in a crash is still held by a race in the 2002 Busch Series, again at Talladega, with 31 vehicles involved, per OutKick.

After Wallace, Blaney and others couldn't continue, Carson Hocevar won. Per NASCAR, he earned his first career Cup Series victory in the process as he narrowly beat Chris Buescher.

Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE's free sports newsletter — sign up now!

"I'm just so thankful,” he said, “This is the biggest dream I've ever thought of. Thank you, everybody. I couldn't have done it any better way."

He continued, "Hopefully, my grandfather is watching. My grandmother died last year, and I'm just so thankful I can give my grandfather a trophy now. Just unbelievable, I'm just so thankful."

Read the original article on People