Mega crash in NASCAR involving 19 cars results in bizarre footage

The incident occurred in the third stage of the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250. Mayer hit the inside wall in Turn 1 with his Haas Factor Team Chevrolet, after which his car abruptly shot left and made contact with Anthony Alfredo. The two cars then slammed hard into the outside wall, leaving much of the field with nowhere to go. According to the American TV broadcast, a total of nineteen cars were ultimately involved in the pileup.

Mayer knew almost immediately what had happened. Over the team radio, the 22-year-old American did not spare himself: "I'm so sorry, I have to be one of the worst race car drivers to touch this sport," he said remorsefully.

The impact pushed part of the outside wall back several meters. The damage was so extensive that the race was red-flagged for the second time. Marshals and staff then spent nearly an hour replacing the damaged barriers before racing could resume.

Mayer was examined at the medical center after the crash and was later released without injuries. There, he again offered a lengthy apology: "First of all, I want to apologize to everyone in the field. I look at all the people who were involved in this crash, and that’s literally almost everyone. I’m sorry for all the people who now have extra work because of my mistake. This is just terrible."

The American acknowledged that he was responsible for the incident: " Just sorry to all the people who have to put work in now because of my mistake. What am I doing? I got to be better. I'm gonna learn from this, I'm gonna be better. You gotta stay locked in, no matter what happens to you."

According to Mayer, the track also played a role. On the temporary course at Naval Base Coronado, the inside wall is hard to see when drivers are running close together:  "The visuals are hard here, with not having an inside catch-fence and it's hard to see the inside wall when you're following people. Just not putting my car in the right place, unfortunately. I was conservative all day with that, and I knew it was getting down to crunch time and I had to be a little bit more aggressive on restarts. I felt like I was going to have a pretty decent run, and I just got a little too aggressive."

For Alfredo, the incident also ended without serious consequences, though he described the impact as the hardest of his career: "This was by far the biggest hit in my entire life by a mile. Just knocked the wind out of me, and I banged both my legs up a little bit, but my left's pretty sore."

The American, who has more than 150 NASCAR races to his name, received medical attention and was later also released from the medical center: "I just had a little trouble getting out of the race car, but I haven't even seen a replay. This is the first time it's a little spotty for me. Sam apologised to me in there, so I guess it was his fault, but I mean, that's a mess."