Speedway president Joie Chitwood said three fans were treated with minor injuries.
Advertisement
In a scary scene, Dillon’s auto lifted into the air from the inside of the track, struck the perimeter fence and finally settled in the infield.
Crew chief Greg Ives immediately radioed his team to not pull Dillon from the auto.
“I am just going to be really sore, ” Dillon told NASCAR.com. I didn’t even know who it was.
Earnhardt was upset, too.
“That was real frightening”.
Earnhardt was killed in a 2001 crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500. “But I’m also really excited about calling this race next February”. “I’m glad we build safe cars at RCR [Richard Childress Racing] and NASCAR”. He was traveling at a speed around 200 miles per hour when his accident occurred.
“You hope everyone is OK there, the racing doesn’t matter any more”.
The race was already a point of controversy, as Chitwood announced on Tuesday that the Confederate battle flag would not be banned from the track for the race, despite calls from NASCAR chairman Brian France to ban the flag from all NASCAR events.
Hamlin finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.
Reed and Buescher will attempt to bring another Daytona trophy back to the RFR shop after Saturday’s Subway Firecracker 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network).
It didn’t end until 2:41 a.m.
Earnhardt, who started on the pole, won for the second time this season.
A crash on the fourth lap seemed to set the tone. Second, there will be at least one big crash. That caused a chain reaction behind them, with Dillon jumping across two other cars, then flying into the fence.
A crash on the 86 th lap sent Carl Edwards and Brian Scott to the garage. He drove up across the track, collecting another five cars in the pileup. “Should be fine, just go ice it up and get ready for [the next race in] Kentucky”, he added to NASCAR.com. Hamlin said the wreck started when Harvick gave him a push, a common maneuver at Daytona, and lifted his rear wheels off the ground. That’s right at the start-finish line, which is right where all of these fans want to be when their favorite driver wins the race. “Unfortunately, all the energy with the turn on the front stretch as the auto comes apart, the energy is carrying the debris out into the grandstands”.
Advertisement
“There’s nothing you can do”, Brad Keselowski said. “He had just jacked up. We have an entire group of people that woke up this morning trying to figure out how we make this better [and] make sure the cars don’t elevate”. “We are pleased with the performance of the race cars protecting the drivers“. We all have wins [to qualify for the Chase for the Championship]. “We all have wins, so at some point, you have to hit the concede button”. Both drivers, Earnhardt said, were “frightened”. They got to me pretty quick. You just had to be patience.
