NASCAR: Stenhouse triggers three-car crash at WGI

Ricky Stenhouse spun on lap 53 and triggered a four-car crash on Sunday during the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

The incident occurred off the carousel turn when Stenhouse seemed to lose control of his car and slid hard into the guardrail barrier. His tires lifted off the ground when he crossed the curbing, which sent his car into a spin. After hitting the barrier, his Ford bounced back onto the racing surface where it collected Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle. Austin Dillon also caught damage in the ordeal.

"We were just hustling hard on that restart and got loose over the curb and just kind of spun," Stenhouse said. "From that point we were just along for the ride. It looked like everybody scattered and it was probably pretty hard to see. We got hit pretty hard. The guys had a fast car. We had some issues yesterday in qualifying that put us toward the back and we were fighting all day to get back up there."

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Johnson, who has four DNFs over his last nine races, said he simply had nowhere to go.

"The cars started checking up in front of me and they all moved out of the way and (Stenhouse) was sitting there, stopped," Johnson said. "I remember seeing a door number and I was so thankful it was the passenger-side door and not the driver-side door, because I plowed him. I really hit the car hard. I was afraid that I might have injured him. But, thankfully he's OK and everybody is all right."

Stenhouse, Biffle and Johnson finished 38th through 40th.