Scary crash for Bubba Wallace at Pocono Raceway (Video)

NASCAR driver loses brakes heading into turn 1 following the longest straightaway on an oval in North America

Bubba Wallace: “They gave me an ultrasound. No twins or anything, so I’m good.”

Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA welcomes the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race today. As the race came to a close we saw a very scary accident for rookie driver Bubba Wallace.

Pocono features a long front straight away of 3,740. That’s the longest straight line of any North American speedway.

With just 6 laps to go, Bubba Wallace was running 21st on the same track where he made his MENCS debut in 2017. 21st would have been his career best at the track.

Unfortunately, he lost brakes at the end of the longest straight away in NASCAR and any United States oval circuit. The brake rotor exploded heading into turn 1.

Wallace turned hard left to get as far away from the wall as he could. He bounced through the grass as the splitter dug in to scrub off as least some speed.

As Wallace re-entered the asphalt he was heading head on for the wall. The car bounced one last time and it turned him sideways just before impact. He slammed the outside wall in turn 1 on the passenger side door.

Wallace was late to get his window net down following the crash. However, he eventually climbed from the car and sat down next to the mangled machine to catch his breath.

Not the first time: Many drivers have lost brakes into turn 1 at Pocono Raceway. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to name a few.

Those previous Pocono Raceway crashes can be seen in the videos below.

Bubba Wallace brake failure at Pocono Raceway
Bubba Wallace brake failure at Pocono Raceway

Bubba Wallace comments on the Pocono raceway crash

“That was a huge hit. Babe, I’m fine. Mom, everybody back at home, I’m ok,” Bubba Wallace told NBC Sports after exiting the Pocono Raceway medical center.

“Hardest one of my career. There’s no feeling like being helpless in that situation going off into turn 1. It scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know if I was going to remember if I hit or not.”

“We’re good. I banged my foot off the pedal. We’ll wake up tomorrow and be a little sore. But, I’m ok.”

“Safety’s come a long way. It’s good to be able to climb out of the car. The EMT’s were worried that I didn’t let the window net down fast enough.”

“I’m like, ‘Hell! That’s the last thing I thought about, I’m sorry,’ ” Wallace explains with a laugh.

“But everything was good. They gave me an ultrasound. No twins or anything, so I’m good.”

“We were trying to get by and just salvage a decent finish. We had brake failures.”

“The lap before I was holding off Aric [Almirola] into turn 1. The peddle went to the floor. So, I went to the bottom. Your natural instinct is just to try to use up all the track when that happens.”

“So, it went to the floor. Pump it up to get through the tunnel. Then, get through [turn 3]. Down into 1 I started pumping it right past the start finish line. It blew!”

“I should have hooked a right into the fence. And stayed up there to slow me down. But, I’m used to turning left there. So, I turned left and there she went through the grass.”

“I’m ok. Yeah, I’ll be limping but I’m fine.”

Bubba Wallace
Pocono Raceway Brake Failure
July 29, 2018

Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray
Pocono Raceway Brake Failure
June 11, 2017

Jeff Gordon
Pocono Raceway Brake Failure
June 11, 2006

Dale Earnhardt
Pocono Raceway Brake Failure
July 15, 1982

More

Related: Pocono Race Results: July 29, 2018

Related: Pocono Race: June 11th, 2017 (Johnson crash)

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Bubba Wallace | Pocono Raceway | NASCAR

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