For the second race in the span of four days, a driver has gotten up into the catchfence at a race track.
Racing three-wide with David Gilliland and John Wes Townley, Gilliland and Ben Kennedy would make contact, turning Kennedy sideways. Townley would then get into Kennedy, sending Kennedy up into the air and up into the turn one wall. Kennedy would get up on top of the wall, making significant contact with the catchfence, before the truck returned to the racing surface on all four wheels.
Kennedy would emerge from the truck without injury, and no fans were injured in the ordeal.
“I’m fine,” Kennedy said post-race. “Thank the good Lord for keeping me safe, and everything NASCAR does to keep these trucks safe. Had this been a few years ago, I don’t think I would have got out of my truck under my own power like that.
“As soon as I heard clear (from the spotter), I wanted to get a good arc into the corner, so I headed up toward the wall and got hit in the right rear and then, I guess, the rest is history. I got up on the wall. I was on top of the wall for a while. You don’t really know what to expect being up there, and then falling down from the wall to the ground was a pretty big hit as well.”
Kennedy’s accident follows an unfortunate trend from Daytona as in the early hours on Monday morning, Austin Dillon made contact with the catchfence at Daytona International Speedway, also emerging without injury. In that incident, 13 fans were hit by debris, with eight declining treatment, four being treated at the infield medical center, and one fan being treated and released at the local hospital.
