Zane Smith was involved in a multicar crash in overtime during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, sending his No. 38 Ford onto its left side and tumbling upside down at the exit of Turn 4.
Smith barrel-rolled twice down the banking before landing right-side-up and exited the vehicle under his own power.
MORE: Official results | At-track photos
Smith was running the high lane entering Turn 3 side-by-side with Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland when John Hunter Nemechek charged to Smith’s back bumper. Nemechek contacted Smith’s left-rear quarter panel and slid the No. 38 Ford high and into the retaining SAFER barrier. Nemechek’s No. 42 Toyota slid further into Smith and squeezed Smith’s car against the wall, forcing Smith’s car onto its driver side, on which it slid for a number of yards. The car eventually turned onto its roof, triggering two full rotations before the car landed on all four tires, allowing Smith to climb from the vehicle.
“It was a wild ride, no doubt,” Smith told NBC Sports after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42. He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall. I was just mad at that point from how our day was going and this just pissed me off even more because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track.
“It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer. Right before that caution came out, we were gonna have a top-10 day, racing up inside the top 10 a majority of the day and it’s a shame that it has to come to an end that way.”
WATCH: Ride along with Smith during flip
After Nemechek’s last contact with Smith, his Legacy Motor Club Toyota came down the track and spun both Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry. Gibbs continued on but Nemechek and Berry incurred too much damage and were unable to keep racing.
Berry and Nemechek were also evaluated and released from the infield care center after their incidents. Berry, the runner-up last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, blamed the incident on the intensity of late-race restarts.
“It looked like Zane and the 42 had got together obviously and Zane was up on his side,” Berry said. “I just tried to go by on the bottom and the 42 spun down and clipped us in the right rear and we wrecked, so it’s just part of being back there. It’s an overtime restart and everybody has to make up for how bad they ran all day and try to pass everybody in one corner.”
Smith, Nemechek and Berry finished 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively, in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet. The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue with the Round of 12’s conclusion at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Oct. 5 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
