TALLADEGA, Ala.: The NASCAR weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway produced a weekend of frightening crashes and Sunday’s GEICO 500 was no exception.
Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece both walked away from a harrowing accident in the closing laps of the second superspeedway race of the season but their race cars were completely destroyed.
The accident was triggered in the first of two overtime restarts in the annual NASCAR Cup Series spring event at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Noah Gragson who was running second on the Lap 190 restart was clipped by Ross Chastain sending the field scattering to avoid the insuring carnage.
Larson who was behind both Gragson and Chastain in the top lane attempted to avoid the chaos but was hit from behind by Kyle Busch and spun off the bumper of Kevin Harvick.
Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet spun to the inside of the track before drifting back onto the track and directly in the path of Ryan Preece.
Preece t-boned the Hendrick Motorsports driver which sent Preece’s mangled No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang into the backstretch wall.
The impact was so severe for Preece that it forcibly pushed up his helmet’s visor where his eye movement insinuated how violent the contact with Larson and the wall actually was.
“We had a really fast Hunt Brothers Racing Ford Mustang,” said Preece after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “When you lose track position it was really tough to get it back.
“Definitely probably one of the hardest hits I’ve ever taken in my racing career. We just gotta figure out how when we get track position keep it or stay up there so you aren’t put in those positions. Still a good day and proud of the car we brought.”
After the race, NASCAR announced it was taking Larson’s battered racecar back to its Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. for further review.
“Thankfully I’m OK but my car is absolutely destroyed,” said Larson. “The cockpit’s a mess. I’m just thankful that I’m alright and all that. It’s just a bummer. We put ourselves in position once again on a superspeedway and the results don’t show it.”
Larson finished 33rd on Sunday and hopes that the team’s hard work on the superspeedways will eventually pay off.
“Another wreck not of my doing on a superspeedway,” added Larson. “I just hate it but we’ll keep getting better, and eventually it’ll have to work out I would think.”
So glad they're okay. We talk with Ryan Preece and Kyle Larson after their huge hit at Talladega. https://t.co/FzIbUCBCgL pic.twitter.com/GjiT7bThJP
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
A HUGE hit for Ryan Preece and Kyle Larson. https://t.co/UanMabB0UP pic.twitter.com/iktuxG84or
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
