MARTINSVILLE, Va. — NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series competes today at Martinsville Speedway, and for the second consecutive race driver Austin Theriault won’t be in the starting lineup.
“I’d like to be back behind the wheel as soon as possible,” Theriault, 21, said Oct. 27. “But in order to do that, certain things have to happen.”
The Brad Keselowski Racing driver sustained a 10 percent compression fracture of the lower back in a vicious crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Oct. 3 while competing in the Rhino Linings 350.
Theriault’s No. 29 Ford struck the wall nose-first in approximately the same spot hit by Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) during an XFINITY Series race earlier this year at the 1.5-mile track. Jones was not injured as a result of his crash.
The area of the wall where Theriault and Jones hit was not protected by SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier, although track officials have since announced additional protection will be in place in time for the 2016 racing season.
“When you sustain a hit like that and you get hurt, there are short-term and long-term goals,” Theriault said. “Trying to sort of mesh them together, you know that sometimes you might give up a little bit of the long term for the short term, or vice versa.
“For me, it’s going to be about still working with the doctors on them clearing me to race but when that happens … I may not feel 100 percent but I want to feel good enough to know I’m not sacrificing performance or putting myself in a position to get injured more, if something else were to happen.”
Team owner Brad Keselowski‘s organization fields two Ford entries in the series. Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 19, is second in points heading into today’s Kroger 200. The No. 29 entry has featured six drivers — Brad and Brian Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Alex Tagliani. Joey Logano and Theriault.
Theriault had made the bulk of the starts, eight, before his injury. Brian Keselowski stepped in for Theriault at Talladega last week while Austin Cindric is behind the wheel this weekend at Martinsville.
Keselowski said Theriault’s HANS device broke as a result of the impact and “his helmet took a major impact.”
“The steering wheel came up in his face and broke part of his helmet,” Keselowski said. “The transmission and bell housing came into the cockpit. These are major issues that we just got really lucky on. Anything else goes a little bit further and he’s not standing here. That’s what happens when you hit a wall that doesn’t have SAFER barrier at a very atrocious angle.”
Keselowski said much has been learned in the wake of his driver’s accident.
“We learned that we know a lot less about safety than we thought we did. And that’s very scary,” he said.
The organization recently took part in a crash test at the University of Nebraska, a test Keselowski said that “ironically was scheduled months before Austin’s crash.”
Theriault is on the entry list for next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, however such entries are typically filed weeks in advance, if not longer. A spokesman for the team said Friday at Martinsville that there was no indication that Theriault had been cleared to return to competition, although such clearance could possibly be granted in time for him to return for the TMS event.
“Until the doctor (clears me), it’s very much a week to week thing,” Theriault said. “I could find a doctor today that would say ‘It’s going to take this long’ and I could find a doctor that would say ‘you can race in two weeks.’ “
Theriault says he remembers “everything” about his crash, which occurred when Reddick’s entry got loose and came down across the track in front of his teammate. Contact sent Theriault’s truck to the right and into the outside wall.
“Like a lot of things, the correlation between actual time and perceived time are different,” he said. “It seemed like when I was headed toward the wall that took longer than it actually did.
“And when I was out of the truck, everything seemed to take longer. That was the biggest thing I noticed. I knew right after I hit the wall that something wasn’t right. You’re not sure what, but something doesn’t feel right.
“The pain is there to tell you that something isn’t right; it’s also there to tell you that you’re still there. It’s a blessing and a curse.”