Cody Ware was treated and released from the infield care center following a hard wreck at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Ware was assisted out of his No. 51 Ford after a wreck halfway through Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race, where he was then transported to the infield care center via ambulance.
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Ware crashed into the Turn 4 retaining wall, prompting the race’s eighth caution period, on the 167th of a scheduled 334 laps. His car careened off the barrier and then caromed off the pit wall before coming to rest.
Rick Ware Racing shared on social media that Ware, 26, would return home post-race.
— Rick Ware Racing (@RickWareRacing) September 25, 2022
“We are thankful to the track crew here,” said Robby Benton, team manager of Rick Ware Racing. “We had a bit of a delay going through the normal protocol of x-rays and reviews and making sure there were no fractures. All of that came back clear. He will be on the team plane with us to return to Charlotte tonight and we are happy he is OK.
“No broken bones,” Benton added. “I feel like we will probably follow up just as a precaution. He will see a specialist with Ortho Carolina once we get home. For as hard of a hit as that was, we are thankful it is as clean as it is and he will be okay to go home tonight.”
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s vice president of officiating and technical inspection, said in a Monday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that competition officials would review the crash this week, including looking at the car, data and the potential for changes to be implemented at the track. Sawyer added that officials would consult with safety experts at the University of Nebraska.
“You look at that hit that Cody had yesterday, and first and foremost, we’re extremely pleased that he is OK,” Sawyer told SiriusXM. “It was a hard hit, both the first hit into the outside wall in Turn 4 and then as he came across the football field and made contact on the inside pit road. We will look at all of that — A, the car; B, the angle in which he hit from both sides, the outside wall and the inside retaining wall. Looking at that opening there, that he didn’t hit directly on the opening, but he was just a few feet or so ahead of that. So we’ll look at all that, work with our folks at Nebraska on the safety aspects of the facility and see if there’s anything we need to do there, the car, and even our pit crews and how they position themselves for pit stops. More times than not, they’re right there up against the wall, maybe a foot or piece of equipment is sitting on the wall. So all those things we’ll look at today and what adjustments we need to make, and we’ll make them sooner than later as we head into Talladega.”