NASCAR driver Riley Herbst took one of the biggest hits ever in the crash at Talladega Superspeedway
Riley Herbst is racing with an injury this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Last weekend, Riley Herbst slammed the outside wall at 160mph in the crash at Talladega Superspeedway. He bounced off the wall and the car was then pointed directly at the inside wall.
Herbst went flying across the track with no brakes. The impact with the outside wall sent his brake pedal to the floor.
He then slammed the inside wall, at an ever worse angle. The crush in the car was already used up in the first impact, adding just another circumstance to the crash.
Herbst climbed from the car with the help of the medical team. He was treated at the infield care center and walked out with just a wrap on his wrist.
Denny Hamlin, the co-owner of 23XI Racing noted that if he took that impact it would have resulted in an immediate retirement.
This weekend, Herbst is back in the car at Martinsville Speedway. He confirmed that he has a torn ligament in his wrist…
Riley Herbst details the crash at Talladega Superspeedway
“We did 115 laps or so today,” Riley Herbst told Bob Pockrass after practice at Martinsville Speedway.
“It’s stiff. Sore for sure. It’s all going to be about pain mitigation. I talked to a bunch of surgeons across the country. They all had the same conclusion.”
“No,” Herbst confirmed that he won’t need surgery.
“We tore part of a ligament that doesn’t need surgery. If I tore on the other side of the ligament, it would have been done for 12 weeks and we would’ve needed surgery.”
“Got lucky to walk away from that. Now, it’s just about mitigating pain for 9 weeks.”
“Usually wrecks, they happen in the blink of an eye. That’s how that first hit was. I didn’t even know what happened by the time it happened.”
“But the second one, I think I calculated 2.5 seconds toward the wall to stare at it.”
Herbst confirms he lost his brakes ahead of the contact with the inside wall.
“I don’t want to hit the wall at 160mph so I hit the brake pedal and it went to the floor. I tried to downshift to slow it that way. I was willing to hurt my motor to try to take some of the impact. But, the transaxle and drivetrain was already out of it. So, I couldn’t downshift it either.”
“I haven’t been told not to comment on it. But, I’m just not going to comment on it. It doesn’t look appealing. I don’t want to get anybody in trouble but visually it’s rough inside the cockpit.”
He concluded, “But, I think everything did its job.”
Denny Hamlin says the Riley Herbst crash would have sent him into retirement
Riley Herbst details the crash at Talladega Superspeedway
Click here to watch the Riley Herbst crash video
