Report: Shane van Gisbergen tire changer hospitalized after flying tire at Pocono, extent of injuries revealed

One of the scariest near misses in recent weeks in NASCAR came when a tire flew into a tire changer on Shane Van Gisbergen‘s crew at Pocono. Everyone walked away from the incident, but it turns out not unharmed.

The tire changer who took the tire to the chest, JP Kealey, suffered two brutal injuries as a result of the collision at Pocono. The Stacking Pennies podcast provided an update on his condition.

“The 16 team is going to kind of miss his pit stall, go deep,” host Skip Flores explained. “He hits his tire carrier’s tire, which launches that into the rear changer of the 88, John Patrick Kealey. Let’s just say it, boys, this is the Dawg of the Week, because I don’t think everybody understands what happened following this pit stop.”

Video of the incident immediately began circling on social media, with many wondering how JP Kealey was able to walk away relatively unfazed. As it turns out, toughness was a gigantic factor in that.

When the injuries became clear after Pocono, Kealey needed significant medical attention. He remains under care today, according to the Stacking Pennies podcast.

“If you watch it in slow motion, all right, you go, ‘Hey, he got hit by a tire, that’s all right,'” Flores said. “But when the tire hits JP, John Patrick, JP for short, when it hits him it hits his pit gun. And it shoves his pit gun into his ribs and it cracked two ribs and punctured his lung.”

JP Kealey, SVG's pit crew member who got hit by a flying tire at Pocono, was hospitalized with cracked ribs and a partially collapsed lung, per @SkipFlores.

Kealey still completed the pit stop 😤

Details: https://t.co/Gxv2hPksJlpic.twitter.com/vOVwWAVf8c

— 5 GOATs (@5GOATs_) June 24, 2025

You can see video of the pit stop at Pocono above. Clearly Kealey is a little shaken up, but he still gets up to finish the pit stop. He’s a little wobbly, but he gets the job done.

“You know what homeboy did? He finished the stop,” Flores said. “He got back up, he did the pit stop with two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. He’s still in the hospital in Pennsylvania today. So he finished the pit stop, comes out of the race, Kap Houston fills in, but for that, John Patrick Kealey, you are the Dawg of the Week, undisputed.”

Motorsport writer Bozi Tatarevic later updated that Kealey had provided clarity on his lung injury. “Luckily no puncture, just partially collapsed,” he wrote on Twitter.

All in all, a pretty remarkable feat. One that Kealey likely won’t forget any time soon. Here’s to a swift recovery after Pocono.