A chain-reaction crash entering pit road at Lap 50 necessitated a red-flag condition in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
As lead-lap cars worked their way to pit road at the Stage 1 break, William Sawalich appeared to check up just past the first few pit stalls at pit entry. Behind him, calamity ensued as others couldn’t brake hard enough in time. Rajah Caruth, a contender in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, was turned perpendicularly after being rear-ended, resulting in a blocked pit entry and many severely damaged race cars.
MORE: Unoffical results | At-track photos
Chase driver Brandon Jones, Nick Sanchez, Harrison Burton and Jeremy Clements all suffered heavy damage in the melee.
All crewmen on pit road avoided injury in the stack-up despite an incredibly close call for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing crew pitting Brent Crews’ Toyota in pit stall No. 40. Caruth’s left-rear quarter panel clipped the incoming right-rear tire of Crews’ car as Sanchez’s No. 87 careened toward the car’s right rear. Rear changer Bryan Backus and jackman Matt Wilps were contacted by the crashing No. 87 Chevrolet, but both completed service without injury and opted against a visit to the infield care center once the smoke cleared.
Joe Gibbs Racing later confirmed all crew members were unharmed in the incident via a post on X.
WATCH: Crewmen narrowly avoid pit-road melee
Upon his evaluation and release from the infield care center, Sanchez said he’s never experienced anything like what developed out of his windshield Saturday night.
“I’ve had pit road incidents, spins, and all that,” he said, “but I’ve never had like a dead stop at pit road like that where you couldn’t go through.”
Others involved in the crash included Dean Thompson, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Patrick Staropoli and Anthony Alfredo.
“It’s like a wreck on (Interstate) 77, I guess,” Harrison Burton said after he was evaluated and released from the infield care center, comparing it to Charlotte, North Carolina, area traffic. “I couldn’t tell what caused it, and all I saw was I guess it was the 51 (Clements) in front of me. Just, I was right on his bumper running my (RPM) lights, and he just ran into the guy in front of him and ran into the guy in front of him, and I got the worst of it.”
The cars that managed to complete service without issue were stopped on the backstretch as safety crews cleared the damaged vehicles and fluid before the rest of the field pitted and rejoined. Sanchez and Burton were officially ruled out of the race and did not continue. Sanchez was credited with a 34th-place finish and Burton 35th.
Contributing: Cameron Richardson
