Talladega, baby…
There’s already been some crazy fireworks at Talladega this weekend, and it’s not even Sunday yet.
Earlier today, we saw a Truck Series tire carrier get smoked on pit road… and then walk it off like nothing happened.
The Love’s RV Stops 250 was under caution when Zane Smith came pulling his #38 Love’s truck into his pit box. He locked up the brakes and went sliding sideways right as his pit crew was hopping over the wall.
Tire carrier Charles Plank had a couple of those 50-lb Goodyear tires in his hand when the rear of the truck came crashing into him.
He was able to jump up and slide over the rear, avoiding a serious injury.
Late in the race, with just three laps to go, Nick Sanchez tried to make a move up the middle and clipped Matt Crafton in the #88 truck, which resulted in a massive pile up.
Crafton’s day was over, and he parked the car in Sanchez’s pit box, an obvious display of his frustration.
But even crazier was what happened after the race.
Back by the garages, a bloody fight broke out between Sanchez and Crafton. The video comes in as the drivers are being separated and all we can tell is that Sanchez looks like he got the worse end of that deal.
You can hear him screaming:
“I’m going to f***ing kill you at Homestead. You f***ed with the wrong guy, motherf***er.”
After the race, Nick talked to reporters and said that it was a cheap shot from behind that left him with a nasty cut on his nose and around his left eye:
“Yeah, I was walking back to the hauler, a tap on my back… got punched in the face. Cheap shot, but it is what it is, I guess.
I’m all for fighting, but no cheap shots. I really never had a chance to get him back. It is what it is… it’s a part of racing.”
He was then asked if he knew that Crafton was out of the race after their crash, and that Crafton parked in his pit stall before exiting the track:
“I heard a little bit about it but not a whole lot, right? It’s Talladega. It’s plate racing.
I mean, yeah, it was an aggressive move I made, but I held my line. It is what it is, happens every year.”
As far as the injuries, Sanchez said they just gave him some glue, no stiches, and there might be a slight break on the nose.
Sanchez went on to finish seventh, Crafton wound up in 24th with a DNF.
