The 'big one' arrived much earlier than expected at the NASCAR Cup Series race at this weekend's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta.

The race is the first of the Cup Series In-Season-Challenge, and the massive wreck will have a massive impact on the single-elimination tournament, having involved at least half of the field.

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Top seed Denny Hamlin in particular is in danger, having been one of the front-running drivers involved in the wreck, meaning that he got hit by at least one car lower in the pack and possibly more.

The major break in the running means that a number of cars will have a chance to not just take some stage points, but potentially sneak into the post-season with more than 185 laps left to run.

Massive wreck mixes up NASCAR In-Season Challenge

The wreck ended the races of reigning champion Joey Logano, as well as William Byron and Ross Chastain as they moved in on their maiden In-Season Challenge entries.

That wasn't even the first big wreck in the race, with Ryan Blaney taken out earlier in a smaller pileup, after which he said: “As usual for this year, got caught up in someone else’s mess.

"I got to the apron and there was really nowhere else for me to go but the apron. I tried to get there and get clear of it, but they kind of came down and got me in the right-rear and I ended up in the fence. There was no missing that one.”

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