2019 Daytona 500: Paul Menard causes major wreck, wipes out 21 cars

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- With just 10 laps to go in the 2019 Daytona 500, driver Paul Menard made an error and sparked a major multi-car wreck that impacted 21 drivers.

The crash, which occurred shortly after a restart, led to the 10th caution of Sunday's race. It brought out a red flag that stopped the race to clean up the wreck.

Menard sat in fifth place, just behind fourth-place Matt DiBenedetto. Menard made slight contact with DiBenedetto's bumper, causing him to turn and start a chain reaction that wiped out most of the race's field.

"It looked like he was trying to get to the middle, so I tried to get to the outside and just barely hooked him," Menard said during the stoppage. "It wrecked a lot of cars. That was my bad and I feel bad about that."

Defending Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Jimmie Johnson and Aric Almirola were among the drivers involved in the crash.

Almirola had his back wheels lifted off the track and landed on David Ragan's windshield.

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin led the pack before the accident occurred.