Hopping a fence at a naval base seems like a bad idea…
NASCAR is in San Diego this weekend for a special street course race at Naval Base Coronado. The 3.4 mile course, which includes parts of the runway and even features the broadcast crew set up in an aircraft carrier, has proved to be a challenge for drivers in both the Truck Series and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and we’ve seen a ton of wrecks already this weekend.
The O’Reilly Series is currently on the track as I’m writing this, but under a red flag after a MASSIVE wreck on a restart on lap 35.
The wreck not only damaged most of the field, with Anthony Alfredo even calling it the hardest hit of his career, but it also damaged the track and knocked loose some of the temporary barriers that were set up to create the track.
As a result, the race has been under an extended red flag, with the cars stopped on the track as crews worked to repair the barriers to ensure the track was safe for drivers.
Well with the cars just stopped on the track, one fan apparently saw his opportunity to get an in-person interview with one of the drivers…who was still in his car waiting for the race to restart.
The fan jumped the fence at the naval base and ran out onto the track before approaching the #00 car of Sheldon Creed.
Cameras captured the fan leaning in and talking to Creed, and eventually giving him a fist bump before running off the track and hopping back over the fence to rejoin the rest of his crew.
After the fan left, Creed laughed about the incident with his team over the radio:
“I think he’s wasted. I didn’t even understand what he was saying. I just let the officials know we do have no part of this guy.”
Classic. What a story that guy’s going to have tomorrow…although he might be telling it inside of a jail cell, because the fan was reportedly detained shortly after getting back on the right side of the fence.
Of course this isn’t the first time a fan’s run out onto the track during a race. Back in 2007, a fan hopped the barricade at Watkins Glen and attempted to get an autograph from Matt Kenseth while the race was under a red flag.
It’s been only one of the wild scenes we’ve seen this weekend with NASCAR racing at the naval base. Of course there’s simply the fact that there’s an aircraft carrier parked beside the track, but the racing has given us some head-scratching moments too – like on lap 1 of the O’Reilly race when a manhole cover came loose and became lodged in the radiator of Corey Day’s car.
Given the circumstances, NASCAR allowed Day’s crew to make repairs (while they welded all the manhole covers back down again) and gave him his laps back, though he was ultimately caught up in another incident later in the race.
What a strange – yet awesome – race weekend.
