NASCAR Pace Car Crashes At Phoenix Raceway

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We can’t think of too many instances where pace cars have crashed in any races, let alone NASCAR Xfinity Series. But it happened on Saturday at the Phoenix Raceway at the start of Stage 2 as fans and even the announcers looked on in disbelief.

Learn about what happens to NASCAR stock cars after they retire.

While not a bad crash, it was still shocking enough to see. The white Toyota Camry turned late to get into the pit row, hitting the barrels around the wall on that gore point. Those sand-filled yellow barrels did their job, taking the impact and crumbling some, instead of crumbling the pace car.

Some openly wondered if one of the lead cars bumped the pace car from behind. But another angle of the accident shows the lead drivers gave the Toyota Camry plenty of space, meaning no contact from them resulted in the collision.

In other words, the pace car driver just made a late decision to turn. Had they hit the Camry, it sadly wouldn’t have been the first time that’s happened, although we can’t think of a time off the top of our heads when contact with a NASCAR stock car has resulted in a pace car crashing.

Because of the crash, the race was red-flagged as crews worked to repair the sand barrels. After all, had a stock car crashed into them, the damage from the collision might have been the difference between a driver walking away and being put on a stretcher, or worse.

While some people watch NASCAR races for the big crashes, we don’t think anyone, including the drivers, were anticipating the pace car wrecking out. It at least appeared to sustain cosmetic damage, if even that.

Image via NASCAR/YouTube