NASCAR Pace Car CRASHES During Championship Race

What’s Happening?

During NASCAR’s Championship race at Phoenix Raceway, the pace car crashed into the pit road barrels. This accident caused a red flag for the cleanup, with sand that spread across the entry to the pit lane.

• The field was ready to go green on lap 64 of NASCAR’s championship race. But NASCAR’s Toyota Camry pace car waited too long to turn down pit road. In a last-ditch effort to make the lefthand turn down pit road, the pace car spun, crashing into the barrels that mark the entry to the pit road.
• Those barrels are filled with sand to cushion the blow should a car, or in this case, the pace car, crash into the outside pit wall. This led to a red flag early on in the race, allowing NASCAR to clean up that sand. During the cleanup, the pace car, which suffered right rear damage, was swapped out for a backup car.
• Olympian Michael Phelps was the honorary pace car driver at the start of the race. However, this is more of a symbolic role. A NASCAR official drives the pace car during the actual race itself. NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey reminded viewers that Phelps was not the driver at the time of the accident.
• A pace car crash is nothing new to professional racing. However, this might be the first time a pace car has crashed in this manner. The NBC Sports crew, along with some drivers and owners, laughed about this. NBC caught 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan on camera laughing about the incident. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who some initially thought caused the accident, said over his radio, “It was a late decision.”
• The crash is reminiscent of last year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs when Kyle Larson crashed his No. 5 into the barrels at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Larson’s accident, however, was much more aggressive and came under green.

What do you think about all this? Let us know on Discord or X what your take is, and don’t forget you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.