Mayer’s restart crash sparks 23-car San Diego pileup
Sam Mayer clipped the inside wall on lap 35 at San Diego, sending across the nose into Anthony Alfredo and triggering a violent 23-car pileup that forced NASCAR to red-flag the race and, later, replace a damaged section of Turn 1’s outer wall in about 45 minutes. Mayer was uninjured and apologetic; Alfredo was sore but OK. A fan was arrested during the stoppage. Among those damaged were Labbe, Creed, Love, Allgaier, Smith, Sawalich, Crews, Jones, Hill, Burton, Thompson, Jeb Burton, Poole, Sieg, Pardus, Clements, Perez, Green, Honeyman, and Alfredo. Mayer attributed the crash to aggressive restarts in crunch time and said he’ll learn from it.