Dean Thompson – the driver of the No. 5 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage – will be transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center for further evaluation, after a vicious crash in the closing stages of Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series event at Texas.
In a previous update, TRICON Garage stated that Thompson was awake and alert while being evaluated in the infield care center.
Thompson will be transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center for further evaluation. https://t.co/SLvJO3SjWM
— TRICON Garage (@TRICONGarage) April 1, 2023
The four-truck accident occurred on lap 146 of Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, and involved Thompson, along with Matt Mills, Armani Williams, and Trey Hutchens.
Thompson, who had spent more laps running inside the top five during Saturday’s event than he had in his entire Truck Series career prior, first got sideways in turns three and four, making contact with the outside wall and spinning down the track.
Mills, who was running nine laps off the pace in the No. 20 for Young’s Motorsports, approached the accident while slowing down, but didn’t see the stationary truck of Thompson ahead, slamming into the passenger-side door of the TRICON Garage No. 5.
According to Mills, the brakes on his Young’s Motorsports entry went directly to the floor, just before making significant contact with Thompson. That contact launched the Thompson entry to the outside of the track, and into the path of Williams (46) and Hutchens (14).
In a Tweet, Mills says that he was unable to see ahead of him, due to the grass and smoke, and was just attempting to get through the accident slowly and without major contact. However, the No. 20 slammed into Thompson.
Just wanna say hope Dean is okay, came out of 4 checking up and just followed cars in front of me all I seen was grass and smoke and just sliding through it trying to slow down, I couldn’t see there was a car even sitting there. It may look different but that was my perspective.
— Matt Mills (@mattmillsracing) April 1, 2023
Hutchens, Mills, Thompson, and Williams were all initially able to climb from their destroyed vehicles under their own power. After emerging from their trucks, both Mills and Thompson sat on the ground to collect themselves.
Immediately after, though, members of the AMR Safety Team loaded Thompson onto a stretcher, where they loaded him into the back of an ambulance in order to take him to the infield care center.
This is a developing story. Any and all updated on the condition of Dean Thompson will be added to this story as an update. Any new posts made about Thompson and/or his condition will be linked back into the body of this story.
