NASCAR Crew Member Chases Loose Tire Into Infield, Immediately Loses Hard Card

NASCAR's two pack racing tracks, Daytona and Talladega, do not have a protected pit lane. It means there is no hard separation between the stalls where pit stops actually occur and the racing surface, just a long expanse of trioval grass in the infield. Normally, that huge swath of grass keeps cars out of the pit lane wall and makes that lack of separation a non-issue. It can do nothing to keep crew members off the track, however.

Yes, that's a member of Hailie Deegan's No. 1 David Gilliland Racing truck chasing a loose tire out toward the track. Yes, this happened under green.

The tire was lost when a carrier fell over while running around to the truck's left side during green flag stops. It then rolled past a few oncoming trucks before rolling into the infield grass. That's already a bad situation that should bring out an immediate caution, but it's made immediately worse: a crew member decides to chase it down, running into the infield of the track during green flag racing. This is a wildly unsafe decision at any track at any point in time, but all the worse at the notoriously crash-prone Talladega.

The crew member's hard card was pulled immediately and he was removed from the track. Fox Sports NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass notes that a previous incident in the Cup Series resulted in a four-race suspension, so the crew member's trouble likely will not end here.

You Might Also Like

• The 40 Best Hoodies to Wear Anywhere and Everywhere

• The Dirty Martini Deserves Legend Status

• This Eli Manning Sketch Is the Best Thing You'll See All Week