Talladega crash heavy on memories at Dover
DOVER, Del. — Kyle Larson has survived near-death experiences on the track in all kinds of racing series. Even by those harrowing standards, the 2021 NASCAR champion still found the aftermath of the full-contact hit from Connecticut’s Ryan Preece last week at Talladega “unsettling.”
It twisted and busted the support bars in Larson’s Chevrolet’s roll cage. Kyle Busch compared the wreckage to a “brick getting rammed into a stick of butter.”
Larson walked away. So did Preece. Both drivers are in good health and ready to race again Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.
Larson, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, was thankful the wreck wasn’t worse. The Next Gen car is entering its second NASCAR season, and the organization is still making needed changes to improve safety in an inherently dangerous sport.
“You see things that could have easily gotten me in the car, whether it be the bars that had completely broke off and could have shanked me. Or what if I had a second impact?,” Larson said Saturday. “I’m not knocking NASCAR at all on that. They’ve worked really hard with this car to make it safer.”
NASCAR’s ongoing investigation includes a re-creation of the crash through computer-aided designs and reviewing film from the in-car camera.
Logano and Busch were among several drivers who wondered whether the accident could have potentially been fatal had Larson been hit on the driver’s side door.
At Talladega, Ross Chastain shoved his car into the middle for a third lane and his car bounced off Noah Gragson, who hit the wall to trigger the crash. Larson was knocked into the grass and his car shot back into the middle of traffic and was smacked by Preece. Preece’s helmet visor was knocked open with the hit.
“It was probably one of the toughest hits I’ve ever taken in a race car, and I’ve hit walls with hung throttles on concrete, concrete walls with dirt behind them,” Preece said.
A year after the Cup race at Dover was postponed to a Monday, Saturday’s qualifying session was rained out. Kyle Busch starts on the pole and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell joins him on the first row.
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Getting choked up as he approached the checkered flag, Ryan Truex won for the first time in 188 career NASCAR starts across all three national series in the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway.
The 31-year-old younger brother of former NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. swept the first two stages and cruised down the stretch, leading 124 of the 200 laps to win by 4.82 seconds over Josh Berry, who starts Sunday in the Cup series for the injured Alex Bowman, who suffered a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash this week.