Of them, eight refused treatment, four were treated on site and one was transported in stable condition with an unspecified injury. Daytona President Joie Chitwood said 13 fans were attended to in the grandstands after the last-lap accident.
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“We’ll take this situation, we’ll learn from it, we’ll analyze it, and we’ll round up our engineering team and see if there’s any additional things we can learn to get better the next time“, Chitwood said.
Despite his vehicle landing upside down and then being struck by another driver, Dillon miraculously walked away from the terrifying crash unharmed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, his fourth win at Daytona global and he could not hold back the emotions. He started to watch the videos of his crash after he showered following the race and the severity of the wreck became apparent when he talked to his brother Ty, who drives in the Xfinity Series. But the sight of Dillons vehicle going airborne and hitting the fence still had left him shaken.You think about the vehicle getting that high, what has it done and is there any danger to the spectators, Earnhardt said.
Dillon’s auto got entangled with a number of other cars and went airborne into a catch fence.
Dillon was seen and released in Daytona’s infield care center and said he had a bruised forearm and tailbone.
That accident forced NASCAR and Daytona officials to strengthen the catch-fence which is designed to prevent cars from flying into the crowd. I saw everything in the mirror pretty clearly…
Dillon said he expects to be back at the track this weekend.
“Somebody please remind me how much Lap 2 pays again?” he said. “And then I just wanted to get out of there and let the fans know that I was OK, let my parents and grandparents know that I was all right”.
“So it was a wicked ride but thank the good Lord above for taking care of me”.
“It’s just a part of the racing that we’re in right now”. “You hate to see that kind of a wreck at the end”.
“I mean, racing doesn’t matter any more”.
Sunday’s 400-mile race at Daytona had been scheduled to start at about 8:10 p.m. ET, but rain forced postponement for three and a half hours. I think everybody could get good racing with slower speeds.
“At the end of a long day, drivers are going to make some comments”, France said.
“You are just on the verge of tears”, Earnhardt said.
Jeff Gordon, who finished sixth, raced for the final time at Daytona in the Sprint Cup Series.
Other drivers, including victor Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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NASCAR prides itself on all the improvements they’ve made. They just don’t listen…. they had an event in 2001.
