NASCAR pit crew members narrowly avoided disaster after a terrifying pit-road crash sent a spinning car dangerously close to crushing them.
The incident occurred during the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, NASCAR’s second-tier championship beneath the Cup Series, at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Illinois, just outside St. Louis. The race was the second event of The Chase.
Saturday night’s race was brought to a halt when several cars collided on pit road while drivers were stopping for fuel and fresh tires. The impact sent vehicles spinning toward pit crews working just feet away.
The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, driven by Brent Crews, was placed in particular danger. One tire changer was struck by Rajah Caruth’s spinning No. 88, while other members narrowly avoided being hit by Nick Sanchez’s car.
Sanchez’s No. 87 spun toward Bryan Backus, the No. 19 team’s rear tire changer, as he worked on the car’s right-rear wheel.
The car missed Backus and the surrounding crew members by only inches. Despite the frightening near miss, no one suffered serious injuries, and the team eventually returned to finish the pit stop after the wreckage had been cleared.
NASCAR pit crew members somehow escaped serious injury in a scary incident
‘Oh my gosh, they’re so lucky’, said The CW Sports analyst and former driver Jamie McMurray while watching a replay. ‘That was so close to being bad. They have their backs turned, they don’t even know that’s happening.’
The chain reaction appeared to begin when Crews’ teammate, William Sawalich, slowed to enter his pit stall and was hit from behind.
The contact triggered a multi-car spin and blocked pit road, prompting officials to display the red flag while crews cleaned up the crash. Sanchez, Harrison Burton and Jeremy Clements were all forced to retire after their cars sustained too much damage to continue.
NASCAR pit reporter and presenter Kim Coon described the incident on social media as the ‘scariest thing I’ve ever seen on pit road’.
Respected pit crew member Bozi Tatarevic wrote: ‘This is one of the worst case scenarios as a crew member. I hope that nobody was out there when they stacked up.’
He later broke down Backus’ lucky escape, saying: ‘That was such a close call for Bryan Backus on the rear of the No. 19. So glad to see him get up.
‘Good situational awareness form rear changer Bryan Backus, tire carrier Brad Donaghy, and jackman Matt Wilps to start moving towards the front of the car as soon as they sense that something is off.
‘That’s a 68 pound wheel and tire combination hitting Donaghy in the hip because the tires have liners here. That’s going to be painful. Hopefully no lasting injury.’
One of the drivers involved, Rajah Caruth, suggested the incident all started with Crews’ No.19 car missing his entry point to his box, pitting at an angle then causing the cars behind to have to slow.
The tire carrier from the No.19 car was hit by a spinning car but it could have been worse
The spinning car somehow avoided slamming into them and crushing them between cars
Caruth told Matt Weaver: ‘Well, I think the 19 missed his box and caused us all to stack, and I got slowed down.
‘But I’m guessing everyone behind me didn’t get stopped, because I was off the ground.
‘It’s super narrow and where the commitment line is, just the width of pit road is super narrow, so I’m not surprised that that happened.
‘But that’s why you do your homework during the week and know where your pit stall is, so you don’t have that happen.’
‘I was pretty frustrated. It would be one thing if I did something wrong but that was pretty out of my control, so I was frustrated to say the least.
‘But it’s racing. You understand, and sports, right? There are so many things out of your control. Just got to take the positives and push forward.’
Another driver, Jeb Burton, said: ‘By the time I looked up, they’re all wrecking in front of me. I don’t know what caused it, we just had a little bit of damage and came out of there unscathed. I don’t know what happened.’
