Crew member for Ryan Blaney hit in crazy crash on pit road at Indianapolis
Rear tire changer Zach Price was hit in a crazy pit road crash in the opening laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Price, who works for Ryan Blaney’s pit crew, was changing tires on Blaney’s car when a crash happened on pit road near their pit stall. Price then got pinched between Blaney’s car and Brennan Poole’s car, which went left toward Blaney’s car.
He somehow was able to get himself near the inside pit road wall after the wreck. He was taken away on a stretcher with what appeared to be a leg injury. Price was shown on the NBC telecast giving a thumbs up and smiling while he was attended to by medical personnel and was later reported to have been treated and released from an Indianapolis hospital.
The pit road at IMS is the narrowest of any track where NASCAR races and it’s not uncommon for cars to run into each other on it. The wreck included the cars of Martin Truex Jr., Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Allgaier was in the crash because he is substituting for Jimmie Johnson after Johnson tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson was set to start Sunday’s race in fourth, but since Allgaier was needed to drive, the No. 48 car had to drop to the back of the field at the start of the race because it had a new driver. Had the No. 48 been in its original starting spot it would have been far ahead of the crash.
Truex was in the crash because his car started having engine troubles in the opening laps. He started fifth but quickly fell through the field ahead of the lap 12 competition caution that preceded the pit road crash.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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