DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Forty drivers started the 63rd Daytona 500 with hopes of hoisting the Harley J. Earl Trophy Sunday. Nearly half of them were collected in a multi-car pileup on lap 14.

As the lead pack steamed down the backstretch at Daytona Int’l Speedway, a shove from Kyle Busch sent Christopher Bell’s Toyota into the rear bumper of Aric Almirola’s Ford on approach to turn three.

The contact between Bell and Almirola sent Almirola spinning up the race track and into the side of polesitter Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet. After that, chaos broke out as car after car came onto the scene.

Several drivers tried to duck to the apron to avoid the carnage, but few succeeded and most ended up with heavy damage to their cars as the soaked infield grass took its toll on multiple front clips.

In all, 16 cars were involved in the melee, including Almirola, Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, David Ragan and Ryan Newman, who was making his return to the Great American Race one year after a violent crash on the final lap sent him to a local hospital.

Also collected were outside polesitter William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Jamie McMurray, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch and Anthony Alfredo.

After being checked and released from the infield care center, Almirola – who won his Duel qualifying race Thursday night – lamented the early aggression that led to his exit from the Daytona 500.

“We were just getting pushed too hard too early. It’s a long, long race,” Almirola said. “Man, we were in a fine position, just sitting there riding around in the top two (or) three and (Bell) just came with a big run and hit me really hard in a bad spot.

“It turned me to the right and tore up our race car and ended our Daytona 500 way too early.”

After getting a look at the replay, Bowman said he was a passenger once Almirola came into the side of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet. The pole winner was seeking his first Daytona 500 victory.

“It looked like the No. 10 (Aric Almirola) kind of got turned sideways there, and I was the guy that got ran into,” Bowman noted. “It’s a bummer. I hate it for Ally. Obviously, we had a really fast Camaro. The Chevrolets were working well together; hopefully a Chevy still ends up in victory lane.

“Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports; they built some really fast race cars,” Bowman added. “I hate that superspeedway racing works out that way sometimes, but that’s just part of the game.”

Ragan was disappointed about being involved in the “unavoidable” situation, as his Daytona 500 start with Front Row Motorsports was his only planned NASCAR Cup Series appearance of the season.

“It’s just unfortunate to have a bunch of tore up race cars that early. I’ve never met a driver that said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna start this 500-mile race and just be super-aggressive,’” Ragan noted. “We all talk about give and take and making it to the end, but it seems nobody does that once they get out there. It’s frustrating that everybody was pushing and shoving, and I just saw the 48 (Bowman) get turned.

“Whenever someone wrecks in the top five or six, it tears up a lot of cars.”

Jones, making his debut with Richard Petty Motorsports, tried to find a silver lining in a tough situation.

“It’s not what we were hoping for, by any means,” Jones noted. “The No. 43 Armor All Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was fast to start. We had raced up there into the top 10, and I think we were just outside of it when the big wreck started.

“I’m disappointed, but there’s 35 more races left this season to go back out and make up for it.”

As for Newman, his hopes of bringing his Daytona journey full circle and grabbing his second Daytona 500 victory – one year on from his harrowing last-lap crash – were dashed far sooner than he’d hoped.

“Somebody crashed in the outside row in front of us and we had nowhere to go. I got hit from some place,” Newman recalled. “I had the wreck missed, but got hit from somewhere and that was the end of our day. I just feel bad for Kohler Generators, jumping on board and getting wrecked out of the Daytona 500 so early, but unfortunately that’s part of (superspeedway) racing.

“I wish we could have had some better results.”

One lap after the caution flag waved for the crash in turn three, a lightning strike near the race track forced a red-flag stoppage, which turned into a lengthy rain delay after a line of thunderstorms moved into the Daytona Beach area.