Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Fla.) — Brad Keselowski couldn’t believe it Sunday when he saw Riley Herbst come up from the inside to him as they headed toward the finish line for the Daytona 500.
Herbst was running third and Keselowski fourth as they were coming toward the finish line, when Herbst slid up to try to throw a block, getting turned into the wall and triggering a multi-car wreck.
Tyler Reddick won the race while Ricky Stenhosue Jr., Joey Logano, Elliott and Keselowski were all wrecked in finishing second through fifth.
“The 35 [of Herbst] just wrecked me out of nowhere for no reason,” Keselowski told me and other reporters outside the infield medical center. “That was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.
“He had no chance of blocking my run. I had a huge run. I don’t know if I could have gotten the 45 [of Reddick] or the 47 [of Stenhouse] but I would have liked to found out because my run was coming fast and the 35 just wiped us and himself. Pretty stupid.”
Joey Logano (No. 22), Brad Keselowski (No. 6), Chase Elliott (No. 9) and Riley Herbst (No. 35) spin after an on-track incident to end the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Herbst said he was trying to win the Daytona 500. Also, it appeared that he wasn’t going to want to push the Chevrolet of Stenhouse instead of his 23XI Racing teammate Reddick.
“We got all spread out wide down the back straightaway, and obviously I chose to go with the 45, pushed him, and he made that move on the 9 [of Elliott] to go side-by-side and I don’t know truly what happened,” Herbst told me.
“I went to pop three-wide to make it a photo finish.”
Keselowski is one of the more vocal drivers when it comes to moves by other drivers at the drafting tracks. The 2012 Cup champion is 0-for-17 in the Daytona 500.
“I thought a one-lane block kind of makes sense, but to block from the very bottom all the way to the top and wreck yourself and everybody else is just stupid,” Keselowski said. “Very, very stupid.”
Herbst understood that Keselowski was upset but Herbst indicated it was part of racing at Daytona.
“It’s fractions of a second,” Herbst said. “And we’re trying to win the Daytona 500. Brad’s been trying to win for [years]. He will tell you that it’s a matter of inches, and we’re on the wrong side of inches.”
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