Watch massive wreck at end of NASCAR race at Talladega

It’s a tale as old as time: Another NASCAR race at Talladega, another wreck.

And one more massive wreck at the racetrack happened Sunday, when defending NASCAR champion Tony Stewart triggered a 25-car pileup as he tried to protect his lead on the final lap of the race. His car sailed through the air and caused a pileup that knocked 10 of the final 12 “Chase for the Cup” drivers out of the race. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth won under caution.

Talladega is a restrictor-plate track, which basically means that everyone races at the same speed, leaving everyone bunched together around the track. One car wrecks and it takes out a slew of others because of the proximity of the cars. As you can see in the video above of Sunday’s wreck, the final lap looked much like the 405 Freeway at rush hour.

And many NASCAR driver are getting sick of it.

“It’s not safe. It’s not. It’s bloodthirsty,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Jeff Gordon, who wasn’t even involved in the wreck and finished second, said: “I don’t like coming here. I don’t like the type of racing that I have to do. But if I’m a fan, I would love that. I think it is incredibly intense. It’s wild, it’s crazy.”

“I know that these are NASCAR’s marquee races, the high banks of Daytona and Talladega,” winning team owner Jack Roush said after the race. “I just figure the car’s a write-off when I load it up to bring it to one of these tracks.”

Added driver Denny Hamlin: “It’s good to get Talladega over with and go on to real racetracks, where we can control our destiny and fast cars matter.”

But perhaps Earnhardt put it best: “If this was what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it. I’ll just put it to you that way. If this was how we raced every week, I’d find another job.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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