The engine and rear axle were torn from Myatt Snider’s car in a scary final-lap crash during the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona on Saturday.
Snider was caught up in a crash on the backstretch as drivers jockeyed for their finishing position and hit the outside wall. As his car hit the wall he was hit by another car and the rear flipped into the air. That catapulted his car into the catchfence above the wall and the cables sheared parts and pieces from Snider’s car.
Here’s how the crash unfolded. Snider immediately put his window net down to signal that he was OK and climbed from the car when safety workers arrived.
Snider’s engine skidded across the track after it was ripped from the car and was hit by Matt Mills’ car. It was the scariest crash at Daytona since Austin Dillon’s car went flying into the frontstretch catchfence during the July Cup Series race in 2015.
That crash came two years after Kyle Larson’s car flew into the catchfence during the second-tier Xfinity Series race in February of 2013. The catchfence ripped the engine from Larson’s car in that crash and the engine ended up lodged in the catchfence.
There are no longer grandstands on the backstretch at Daytona. Multiple fans were injured in the 2013 and 2015 wrecks because of the close proximity of the grandstands to the frontstretch. Instead, there’s now parking for RVs and other campers. Bubba Wallace was with team owner Michael Jordan on that side of the track and the crash happened right in front of them.
Austin Hill won Saturday’s race as he passed AJ Allmendinger on the final lap right as the crash unfolded. The Xfinity Series race ended under caution, just like Friday night’s Truck Series opener did at Daytona. Sunday’s Daytona 500 is the third of three races under the NASCAR banner at Daytona this weekend and is set to begin just after 3 p.m. ET.