Easily The Worst NASCAR Crash In Recent History

Sean Gardner. Getty Images.

NASCAR resembles hockey in only two ways…

1) The majority of both the competitors and the fans are white.

2) A good portion of those white fans are there for either fights or crashes.

(Slipped the straight right hand, and then connected on a wide-open chin with an overhand left… Fucking textbook.)

Hockey fights are more commonplace and infinitely safer, while NASCAR crashes happen less often but carry a SHITLOAD more risk when they do happen.

And there have been some DOOZIES of crashes in the history of NASCAR, but Spider and I were at Daytona last weekend and witnessed one of the worst firsthand.

I'll show you some of the older ones first, starting at the scene of this week's crash… Daytona International Speedway.

Jonathan Ferrey. Getty Images.

The most well-known crash at Daytona is unquestionably the one that claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt Sr in 2001, but, with all due respect to its fatal result, the crash itself was not fantastic… 

And I use the word "fantastic" in its literal definition of being unordinary, fanciful, or remote from reality.  Dale's crash was tragic, but you can see there was nothing extraordinary or fantastic about the crash itself.

Now check out Ryan Newman's crash from the 2020 Daytona 500…

It took 15 minutes to cut Newman out of the car and by the time his parents got to the hospital to see him, he was in a medically induced coma.  Miraculously, he walked out of the hospital two days later holding hands with his two small daughters.

Mediapunch. Shutterstock Images.

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Stay at Daytona, and here's Austin Dillon in the 3 car during the 2015 Coke Zero 400…

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If you watched this all the way through, you see AD jump over 2 lanes of cars before hitting the fence barrier, and as his demolished car spins to a stop while upside down, the Penske 2 car (I believe Brad K) inadvertently adds a little insult to injury and slams into poor Austin once more as the belly of his car is exposed.

There are a ton more to show here (and at least 2 of them involve Rusty Wallace), but I want to make sure you see this weekend's crash which sent Ryan Preece on a circus-like series of flips over the grass surrounding the track…

Please stick with this clip until the slo-mo replay when you can clearly count at least 10 full revolutions in the air.  We, as a society, have been spoiled by the CGI in video games and Fast&Furious movies…

… but I think we can still appreciate the severity of what Ryan endured.  Although, we can't fathom what must have been going through his mind as he tumbled over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again… All while his wife and newborn daughter watched on TV.

The best news is Preece is okay.  He is still listed to drive the 41 this weekend in Darlington, and as of this morning, we haven’t gotten any indication that his team is looking for someone to substitute.

Plus, he tweeted this from the hospital Saturday night…

So a hearty "Get well soon" to Ryan, and you can get a full recap of last week's race plus a full preview of this weekend's playoff action on the latest edition of Rubbin' Is Racing…

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Take a report.

-Large