Watch the crazy video as the track comes apart and causes multiple cars to crash
On Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the first time. It was the first INDYCAR/NASCAR double-header in history.
Watch the Indianapolis crash video below.
Multiple times during the race, NASCAR was working on the turn six curbing. However, nobody saw what was coming.
With just four laps to go, they saw big trouble in turn 6! The curb had become dislodged. William Byron was the first to find the issue.
Byron jumped the curb as usual but it ripped his front nose apart. Water and oil was sprayed across the track.
Logano, Suarez, Preece, Bell, Newman, Kyle Busch and others all spun and crashed behind him. As the cars went through the turn as usual, the curb ripped off their noses. With oil and water on the track, many others were sent into the tire barrier.
Immediately, NASCAR officials went to work with metal cutters. They removed the curbing completely and pulled it away on a tractor as the fans cheered.
Even the track president went to work. After the curb was moved, he ran out on the surface with a broom to brush the debris away.
William Byron comments on the broken curb
“It was so weird. I’ve never had that experience. It was basically like I hit a wall,” Byron told NBC Sports.
“I come through that corner, the same, every single lap. We were running 4th there, behind Larson. He went over that curb in the exact same spot.”
“after he hit it with his right rear, it like, peeled up. As soon as I got there, I hit something. It just threw me completely off line. It tore the front end right off of it.”
“I was actually safe because I saw what happened to him. It looked like he jumped in the air with his right rear. So, I went a little bit further left and I just nailed something that came up, off the track.”
Byron added, “Just a bummer.”
“Rudy had been talking to me, ‘Hey, that curb, they’ve been working on it. That first white patch is what they’re working on.’ “
Byron added, “But, I think all the screws, or however it was positioned, came up and I hit it square. I think we would have been fine, if the front end wasn’t destroyed.”
Fellow driver Christopher Bell added, “I didn’t really see much, just a bunch of crashing.”
Xfinity Curb
In Saturday’s Xfinity race, they ran into a similar issue. The series visited the same track last year. However, new elements were added in turn six.
A large orange curb was installed for this year’s race. As the NASCAR Xfinity Series rolled through turn five and six, side by side on lap 1 of the race, it was the first time that rolled through their two wide.
Multiple cars were pushed wider in turn six. They found the larger curb and race cars were launched. On lap one, Harrison Burton was forced to the garage area. Many others suffered damage.
NASCAR elected to remove that curb ahead of today’s NASCAR Cup Series race. However, the interior curb became a new issue.
Related: Indianapolis Race Results from August 15, 2021 (NASCAR Cup Series)
