KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola has been airlifted to the University of Kansas Medical Center for evaluation after his involvement in a fiery, three-car crash during Saturday night’s running of the Go Bowling 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
NASCAR waved the red flag after a grinding three car crash ignited on Lap 199 when Joey Logano had a parts failure and lost control of his car and made contact with Danica Patrick. Almirola running around 20th the lap before apparently slid into fluid on the race track and directly into the accident.
Almirola’s contact with both cars launched his No. 43 Smithfield Ford into the air and off the racing surface.
Almirola’s window net was lowered but safety crews continued to work to extract him from the car, removing the windshield and cutting off the top of his Ford. He was awake and alert when he was pulled from the car and placed onto a backboard and briskly flown out of the race track.
Almirola through his team radio was complaining of back pain following the crash.
A statement from Richard Petty Motorsports just after 1:30 a.m. (Eastern) stated that Almirola was alert after the accident as safety professionals removed him from the car and was is in stable condition and will be held overnight for further observation.
The team will provide further updates when appropriate.
Logano and Patrick were evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly after the crash. The two drivers were battling for 12th-place prior to the wreck.
“I just don’t understand why so much bad luck happens,” said Patrick who finished 36th. “Besides that, I actually feel physically fine and I was over there showing the doctor that my sprained ankle was just fine.
“What can I do but just laugh about it? A (brake) rotor? On a track that we’re braking with 200 pounds, 300 pounds of brake pressure? Why? What else can I say?
“On the other hand, I was having a really good night and that’s what makes me the most mad. Every time I’m doing better, something stupid happens and it’s just killing me. I don’t know any other way to say it. I kind of felt like Wonder Woman tonight for a little while. It definitely looked like running in the top 10 for a while.
“I got out of the car and walked in that direction and I was careful not to walk toward the track because I’ve been fined for that before. When I saw (Joey), I said ‘I’m pretty sure it was you’ and then he said it was a failure of some sort which didn’t really make me feel any better at that moment.”
When asked about Almirola, she offered, “Well, I hope Aric is OK. He is definitely feels the worse of everybody. NASCAR does everything it can to make our cars as safe as possible but things happen and his car looked the most damaged of everybody. One of these times these accidents isn’t going to go well for me. I’ve been very fortunate but one of these times it won’t go well.”
Immediately after the crash, Logano’s first reaction was the well-being of Patrick, while at the infield care center, he had similar sentiments towards Almirola.
“All of us took a hard hit. Something broke on the car – I don’t know what it was,” Logano said. “I noticed it going in (to the turn) and tried to back off but you’re going 215 (mph). I took a hard left. I just hope everyone is OK. I hooked Danica. I haven’t seen the replay (until now). don’t know what happened. The right-front popped and I took a hard left. I hope Aric is alright. That’s the last thing you want to see is a big hit like that for anyone.
“It came out of nowhere. Everything was fine and I just took a hard one. I’m praying for Aric right now. I hate to to be the part that started it but there was nothing I could have done. Something broke and we tore up a lot of cars.”
Almirola, 33, is in his sixth full-time season for Richard Petty Motorsports and is the most recent winner in the NASCAR XFINITY Series last weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The Tampa, Fla. native earned his lone Cup win at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July 2014.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email [email protected]
