Zane Smith flips at Kansas in scary wreck after wall ride

In a two-lap overtime restart for the win at Kansas, Zane Smith flipped in a big wreck that immediately brought out a red flag. He was able to land on all four wheels and safely exited the car to applause from the fans.

But the incident was certainly scary. He didn’t quite catch air but got into the wall and his car went vertical.

The contact came from John Hunter Nemechek near the wall and Zane Smith’s car simply gripped the wall and rode on it for several hundred feet before flipping down near the track. It was a hard hit.

ZANE SMITH FLIPS pic.twitter.com/qQg47gS1uA

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Zane Smith’s team radio was upset with Nemechek for the contact following the big hit into the wall. They immediately chimed in after the driver was out of the car.

“The f*cking 42 drove in there and f*cking cleaned us out,” someone said, per Kelly Crandall. After that flip, such a reaction was certainly understandable.

After being checked out at the infield care center, Smith met with the USA broadcast crew to discuss the flip. He was understandably upset.

“It was a wild ride, no doubt. Just, yeah, before I knew it I had a decent restart going and then I mean I just get wrecked by the 42,” Smith said. “I mean just drives through me. Then yeah, I was sliding on the wall. I was just mad at that point from how our day was going and this just pissed me off even more, because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track.

“Violent, no doubt. … Just a bummer. Right before that caution came out we were going to have a top-10 day racing up inside the top 10 the majority of the day. It’s a shame that it has to come to an end that way.”

While Zane Smith was headed to the infield care center, NASCAR was dealing with the fall-out of his flip. Apparently the track was damaged during the crash, which could put a second overtime restart in jeopardy.

The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi provided some radio communications from race leader Bubba Wallace, who was hoping that the race was called … which would result in him winning and going through to the Round of 8 in the playoffs.

“They’re saying there’s a big gouge in the track, a couple inches right before the Ally sign in the center in (turns) three and four, up top,” Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft told the driver of the No. 23 car. Wallace quickly responded.

“It’s unsafe, call it,” Wallace said. “Done.”