An absolutely massive wreck just took multiple drivers out of the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona, including Thad Moffitt and Ty Dillon. Christian Eckes seemed to have made a bad push, and then we had a classic NASCAR wreck.
Twelve trucks were in this wreck in one way or another. Drivers like Rajah Caruth had damage that could be fixed. For Moffitt and Dillon, there was no way for them to keep going on the race track.
It’s awful for this to happen so early in the race, especially for Thad Moffitt with the brand-new Faction 46 team. Drivers were still getting a feel for things and then, mayhem. Watch it happen below.
By the time the Damaged Vehicle clock expired, Layne Riggs found himself as a DNF as well. Jake Garcia was also taken out in the end of all of the mess.
After leaving the infield care center, Ty Dillon didn’t understand why drivers were pushing as hard as they were so early.
“It was just chaos, I don’t know, it was just trucks going everywhere with no plan. Maybe it’s just getting adjusted to the Truck Series.”
So, it was a chaotic start to the Truck Series season for newcomers and drivers like Dillon returning to the series. When you have young drivers battling hard this early in a race, bad things happen. For these drivers and teams it is on to the next race at Atlanta.
Thad Moffitt felt it was ‘too early’ to push
He might not have the Petty name, but Thad Moffitt is a racer. He’s lived and breathed racing and NASCAR his entire life. I’m sure his grandfather has told him a thing or two about racing at Daytona, as well.
After leaving the care center, Thad was obviously frustrated. This is his rookie season and he wanted to start the season on a high note. H ehad a fast truck, but was just caught up in the chaos.
“Just a bunch of pushing, man,” Moffitt told the media. “It’s too early in the race to be pushing like that. The 88 got pushed, I saw him bounce off the inside car and next thing you know we were wrecking left and right. I saw Ty at the top and Lawless coming up from the bottom and obviously Lawless was coming up a lot quicker than I anticipated and came across the nose.”
So, onto next week. For these drivers, things are off to a rough start. That’s the nature of the Truck Series. Hopefully, as drivers get more comfortable we see the racing improve. This series already has a reputation and wrecks like tonight do not help.
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