Zane Smith was simply hoping to finish the race at Kansas Speedway right side up while a handful of NASCAR playoff drivers battled for the win up ahead of him.
Instead, a spectacular flip turned both his race and the Kansas field upside down in Sunday’s (Sept. 28) Hollywood Casino 400.
The crash saw Smith’s No. 38 literally ride the wall sideways off turn 4, his driver’s side window net scraping the track, after contact from John Hunter Nemechek up ahead of him pushed his car onto its side. The duo had been battling for spots inside the top 20, far behind then-leader Bubba Wallace, when JHN drifted up in turn 4.
The results from said contact were near catastrophic. Smith rode the wall sideways, then flipped a few times before landing right-side up on the apron of Kansas’ 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Thankfully, Smith exited the car under his own power and avoided serious injury. But he didn’t mince words when asked about the wreck’s intensity.
“Violent, no doubt,” Smith told Frontstretch’s Dalton Hopkins. “Just crazy restarts at Kansas and I just got wrecked. He [John Hunter Nemechek] just drove right through my left rear. So hard it just kicked me up right onto the wall. And then just started flipping down the track.
“So, violent, no doubt, but a really fast SpeedyCash Ford. Just a bummer it had to end this way … never flipped a stock car, so, add that one to the resume.”
The incident left Smith out of the race in 31st, also ending the days of Nemechek and Josh Berry. Both JHN and Berry left the track without comment to Frontstretch on the incident.
The crash took the field into overtime, eliminating a Toyota advantage where they held the top five spots in the race. Chevrolet’s Chase Elliott was then able to run down the leaders on the ensuing restart and score an improbable win.
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