NASCAR’s Cup Series championship race at Phoenix was red-flagged on lap 69 because of a not-so-nice incident involving the pace car. As the pace car led the field to green for a restart after the first stage break,

NASCAR red flagged the race and stopped the cars on the track while they cleaned up the mess at the pit road entrance. And they also had to swap pace cars after the original one was damaged in the incident. Yes, there’s a backup pace car. The pace car just CRASHED into the sand barrels at the entrance of pit road!

The NASCAR race took an unexpected turn when the pace car crashed, causing a red flag—and drawing sharp commentary from Denny Hamlin.

The pace car crashed into the pit road entry sand barrels early in the NASCAR championship race on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. Before the restart in stage two, the pace car suddenly veered sharply left toward the pit lane for the resumption of the race after a caution.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway was red flagged for an unexpected reason. The pace car was late getting on to pit road before the restart to begin the second stage of Sunday's race and slid into the barrels which provide protection to the end of the inside wall on the racetrack.

A car not even racing in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix brought out the red flag after crashing.