Kenny Wallace: ‘The whole field can’t pit at one time’
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Differing pit strategies on a high-speed race track and indecision at a crucial moment resulted in a multicar crash sweeping up 10 cars during Saturday’s Winn Dixie 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The wreck began on lap 74 as the field swept off the fourth turn of the 2.66-mile track; it didn’t begin to subside until the leaders had well beyond crossed the start/finish line.
“About the lap before, they said that the leaders were going to pit,” driver Kenny Wallace told FOX Sports 1 after exiting the infield care center. “And I thought, ‘Hell, the whole field can’t pit at one time, they’re all going to wreck.’ And they did.
“The whole field can’t pit (at the same time). That’s really just the bottom line. You can’t say it’s one person’s fault; you’ve got to split that stuff up. We’ve raced here for 100 years. Just had a big old wreck, the whole field trying to pit at once.”
NASCAR officials red-flagged the race for 7 minutes, 56 seconds, in order to attend to drivers and clear the debris.
While no drivers were injured, two crew men for the No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing team suffered injuries when Brendan Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet was hit and sent racing down pit road. Troy Brady, stationed behind pit wall and holding the pit board, was knocked to the ground when the car struck the sign; a second crewman was knocked down as well.
According to the team, both were taken to the infield care center. One was treated and released; Brady was transported to Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama for further evaluation and released Saturday night.
Gaughan, who has two wins and 126 starts in the series, said he didn’t know if it was a case of drivers not paying attention or something else.
“When you’re pitting, get the hell out of the way and get down,” he told FOX Sports 1. “Talladega is easy to come on pit road. Just get out of the way. People don’t get out of the way. People try to come from the outside. Chaos happens. …
“We’ve been running so good. I got through Richmond with a decent finish and now we’re just sitting here picking up points again. It just pisses me off. It’s not that tough to get on pit road here, and guys for some reason can’t figure it out.”
In addition to Gaughan and Wallace, drivers involved in the wreck were Harrison Rhodes, John Wes Townley, Ryan Sieg, points leader Ty Dillon, Joey Gase, Ryan Reed, Daniel Suarez and Chad Boat.
Brian Scott and Austin Dillon — second and third, respectively, behind race winner Joey Logano — were out front when the melee erupted.
“I looked in the mirror after that and I was just happy … because me and Brian were sitting 1-2 and I said ‘this is going to be real good,’ ” Dillon said.
“We were talking before the race and … when they say ‘wrecking behind you,’ it’s like ‘whew!’ You just take a breath. You made it through that one at least.”
Said Scott: “There’s no greater feeling on a superspeedway when you look up in your mirror and you see smoke and you’re not any part of it.”