Posted April 03, 2020 08:16:51A driver who suffered a box-car crash on the track after a car crashed into him while he was driving a car racing at NASCAR’s Daytona International Speedway has spoken out about his condition.
Tony Stewart, who drove the No. 22 car in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race, has been placed on administrative leave while a full investigation into the incident is conducted, NASCAR said.
“I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’ve got some pretty serious injuries, but no serious structural damage,” Stewart told ESPN.
“It’s been a very tough time for my family.”
Stewart, a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, was driving the No 22 car on Sunday afternoon, just hours after the accident.
He said he felt a bump on his helmet while he took a quick break after the crash, but said it was “not bad”.
“It’s not a big bump, it was just a little bump and I didn’t notice it, but that’s not something that you notice in a box,” Stewart said.
“I don’t think it’s an emergency.
I was driving very quickly and I felt a little bit of a bump.
I looked down and I was not expecting it.”
Stewart said he did not feel any pain and that he “didn’t really feel anything”.
“My hands were still in my pockets and I think my hands were probably a little numb at the time, so I think it was an instinct thing,” he said.
“I don (think) I hurt my face, I don’t feel anything, but it’s just my instincts and I feel good.”
When Stewart returned to the track, the No 2 car in line for victory, the number three car in front of him was destroyed by a car driven by a second-placed finisher.
A car driven on the back of Stewart’s No 2 vehicle crashed into the No 3 car in its path and the No 1 car behind it and crashed into another car on the inside of the No 10 car in a series-high-speed collision.
The No 2 driver, Justin Allgaier, was killed in the crash.
Allgaier was driving an entry-level car at the Daytona International Speed Skating Championships, a race Stewart had previously won in 2010.
Steward’s accident comes after another NASCAR driver was killed on Sunday at Daytona International.
NASCAR said a third driver died at the wheel of another car while racing at the Talladega Superspeedway in Georgia.
It said the car driver was in a coma and that “multiple injuries” were being assessed.
More to come.
Topics:arts-and-entertainment,nascar,disasters-and_accidents,accidents-and/or-events,united-states