RICHMOND, Va. — A frightening pit-road fire just before the midway point of Friday night’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race flashed across two pit stalls, sending three crew members from two teams to a local hospital.
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The blaze ignited during a round of yellow-flag pit stops at Lap 113 of the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway, when Brendan Gaughan brought his Richard Childress Racing No. 62 Chevrolet in for service. Just before he leaving his pit stall, a spark triggered a full-scale fire near the left rear corner of the car.
Anthony O’Brien, Gaughan’s rear tire changer, was in the middle of a left-tire change right under the fuel nozzle. Both he and RCR gasman Josh Wittman scrambled when the fire erupted, and both were later transported to a local hospital for further treatment. Wittman was released on Saturday following overnight observation. O’Brien remained in a local hospital until Monday, when he was released.
"It was getting hot," said Shane Wilson, crew chief for Gaughan’s No. 62. "We always said when you see fire, you’ve got to go off the back (of the pit box), and I did. I’ve always worried about that. I’ve never been involved in one of those fires before, but we’ve seen a few like that. Luckily, none of our people who were sitting behind me got hurt and none of the other guys got hurt."
When O’Brien leapt over the pit wall — still on fire — he was covered on the ground by Clifford "Doc" Turner, the gas runner for the No. 24 Toyota driven by Eric McClure, in an effort to smother the flames. Turner was also transported to the hospital, but was released late Friday night after treatment for inhalation of extinguisher flames, according to a team spokesperson.
"You could feel it coming up, and then all the fire extinguishers — it was pretty intense," said Steve Plattenberger, crew chief for McClure’s No. 24. "The heat was hot, and matter of fact, we were fixing to come down pit road and I called on the radio and hollered at him, ‘Don’t come.’ It was big. All I could see was the fire extinguisher — smoke was all over all three of the pit boxes right there next to us. That was a fire. You could feel the heat big-time."
Wilson said the fire was caused by a malfunction on the head of the gas can, which prevented the nozzle from sealing flush. Wilson met with NASCAR officials after the race to examine the faulty fuel filler, which he said would be examined further this week at the sanctioning body’s Research & Development Center.
Gaughan continued on to an 11th-place finish, one lap down to eventual race winner Denny Hamlin. Though his team did not get the fuel tank full on its fateful pit stop, Gaughan said his primary concern in the second half of the race was with his crewmembers.
"NASCAR racing, we’re athletes and these boys are athletes also," Gaughan said. "That’s part of the sport. Fortunately, one of our boys knew what to do and the other one, the shock took him. I’m going to go check on them now and see how they’re doing, but it’s definitely … I’m always an emotional guy, so it’s definitely tough to worry about that and try to keep driving. But at least you have to stay focused and get your gig done, and now I’m going to go check on my boys."
Wilson, who added that the team would review video footage of the pit stop to see if any other factors played into the fire, does not wear a fire suit atop the pit box. After Friday night’s race, Wilson hinted that could change.
"I think we all will probably think about this more tomorrow and the next day, probably a lot of people down pit road," he said. "Yeah, that was close. A little bit more and that would’ve been a pretty big deal."
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