Ryan Blaney crew member beaten in crazy road accident


Rear tire changer Zach Price was hit in a crazy pit crash in the opening laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Price, who works for Ryan Blaney’s pit crew, was changing the tires on Blaney’s car when an accident happened on the pit road near his pit station. Then Price got caught between Blaney’s car and Brennan Poole’s car, which went left toward Blaney’s car.

Somehow, he was able to get close to the inner wall of the well path after the accident. He was carried on a stretcher with what appeared to be a leg injury after the accident. Price was shown on the NBC broadcast by giving a thumbs-up and smiling as medical personnel attended to him.

A member of Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 crew was hit Sunday in a road accident. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

The pit lane at IMS is the narrowest of all NASCAR track races and it is not uncommon for cars to meet each other. The accident included the cars of Martin Truex Jr., Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Allgaier was in the accident because he is substituting for Jimmie Johnson after Johnson tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson was ready to start Sunday’s race in fourth place, but since Allgaier was required to drive the car, the No. 48 car had to fall to the bottom of the field early in the race because it had a new driver. If No. 48 had been at its original starting point, it would have been way ahead of the accident.

Truex was in the accident because his car started having engine problems on the first few laps. He started fifth but quickly fell through the field before the caution of competition on lap 12 that preceded the crash on pit road.

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