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Things have gotten ugly at the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway as the Big One happened on Lap 69—a nine-car crash that’s brought out the red flag for almost 20 minutes. Remarkably, all of the Chase contenders eluded the carnage, which was triggered when Brian Vickers lost a tire.

“It [tire] didn’t go flat,“ Vickers said. “It exploded.“

Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, who fell a lap behind after an engine change forced him to the rear, and South Boston’s Jeff Burton barely escaped the accident. Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon was nearly as fortunate as he wheeled the No. 24 Chevrolet into the garage after a four-car crash on Lap 55. 

Johnson was forced to start at the rear after an “adjustment outside impound” to his 48 Chevrolet before the start of the race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Johnson’s crew asked NASCAR officials if they could check the cylinder this morning, suspecting they might experience a similar problem that caused Earnhardt’s engine to blow during Friday’s practice.

Johnson was joined in the back of the 43-car field by both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan, both of whom made engine changes overnight. Unlike Earnhardt and Ragan—both of whom have charged up front to lead—Johnson is struggling to catch up, mostly because he doesn’t have a drafting partner.

Ultimately, the Chase points leader was lapped just 25 laps into this 188-lap race. The two-time reigning Cup champion has plenty of time to make up the distance, but even he can’t afford to continue to fall back.

The breaks haven’t gone Johnson’s way, either. As soon as he was overtaken by Robby Gordon, the first yellow flag appeared because of debris in Turn 2 on Lap 34, thus giving Gordon the Lucky Dog and leaving Johnson a lap down.

The points standing will change a lot throughout the day. Right now, Carl Edwards has made up the 10-point deficit and now leads Johnson by more than 120 points.

Typically, there’s always a shake-up at Talladega. But neither Johnson nor Gordon expected this.