Almirola suffers back injury
Aric Almirola can moved all of his limbs after suffering a fracture in his back during a wild, fiery crash late Saturday night at Kansas Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. won the race.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran Aric Almirola, who had to be airlifted from Kansas Speedway after a threecar accident Saturday night during the Go Bowling 400, has been released from the hospital.
Almirola, who had to be cut from his No. 43 Smithfield Ford after the wreck between turns one and two with 67 laps remaining, suffered a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra.
The good news is that Almirola “is mobile and will follow-up with his doctors in Charlotte,” according to a release from Richard Petty Motorsports.
Almirola was expected to fly home to Mooresville, N.C., after spending Saturday night in the University of Kansas Hospital.
Joey Logano triggered the fiery multi-car crash on lap 199 of Saturday’s spring race under the lights at Kansas Speedway.
A blown right front brake rotor caused Logano to lose to control and make contact with Danica Patrick, who was turned and smashed nose first into the wall.
Patrick’s No. 10 Wonder Woman/One Cure Ford spun around as it scraped along the wall, while Logano’s No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford slid in front of Patrick’s car with its rear bumper along the wall.
Almirola was behind the wreck when it happened and tried to check up to avoid the carnage, but his car lost grip — perhaps due to oil or other fluids on the track — and slammed into Logano’s car.
The impact lifted the back of Almirola’s car several feet into the air and fire shot from both cars.
Almirola’s car appeared to have the least damage, but emergency workers had to cut away the roof and roll bar to extract him from the car.
There was a 36-minute delay after the accident, which occurred at 9:23 p.m., as Almirola was removed from the car, strapped to a backboard and taken to a waiting ambulance before being loaded into a helicopter for transport.
Almirola is in his sixth full-time season with Richard Petty Motorsports.
He owns one win and 29 top-10 finishes in 226 career Cup starts.
Martin Truex Jr. roared away from Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick on a late restart, then did it again when Jimmie Johnson spun out with two laps to go to win.
Truex has been the model of consistency this season.
He was eighth at Atlanta before winning the following week at Las Vegas, then ran fourth a couple weeks later at California. He also had back-to-back eighth-place runs at Texas and Bristol and was in the top 10 at Richmond.
In fact, the only time he’s finished outside the top 16 this season came at Talladega, when a laterace wreck ended his day. Otherwise, he’s been right in the mix at every stop.