NASCAR Insiders observe moment of silence for fallen squirrel: ‘PETA is outraged’

A squirrel died during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, and two NASCAR insiders paid tribute to it. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reacted to Ty Dillon hitting a squirrel at his pit box.

“It’s a tough loss to see something like that happen,” Gluck said. “…RIP, man. I don’t know what his name was, Squirrely McSquirrel, Peanut. Ty Dillon, what a monster, Ty. How could you?

Bianchi responded, “Ty should show up wearing the squirrel as a hat.” That led to Gluck asking a tough question about the aftermath.

“Who had to scrape them off?” he asked. Bianchi responded, “I don’t know. I was actually thinking about going to look.”

The two insiders discussed more about who cleaned up the mess after the incident. Gluck then said, “PETA is outraged right now.”

More on the squirrel incident at the NASCAR Michigan race

The incident happened after Stage 2 of the Michigan race. On his radio, Ty Dillon said that he  “murdered a squirrel” when he arrived at his pit box.

“I think I just murdered a squirrel getting into my pit box,” Ty Dillon said, per Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic. “Bad timing, little buddy.”

After hitting the squirrel, Dillon continued to compete in the race and finished 24th. The 33-year-old returned to the Cup Series full-time this year after driving for multiple teams on a part-time basis in 2024.

“I am incredibly grateful for another opportunity to run full-time in the Cup Series, and to be able to do it with the men and women at Kaulig Racing means a lot to me personally,” Dillon said in a press release from Kaulig Racing in September. “They gave me a chance this year to go out and prove myself in a handful of starts. The team and I were able to connect early on and we put together a few strong runs in the No. 16. I’m really looking forward to what 2025 brings with this team. We have a bright future ahead of us and we’re going to give it our all each and every race next season.”