A fiery @MonsterMile crash.@ARCA_Racing | @NASCARonFOX pic.twitter.com/T4rUfMAz3R
— SPEED (@SPEED) April 26, 2024
Wow, what a couple of impacts. On Lap 75 of Friday’s ARCA Menards Series General Tire 150, Christian Rose had an issue with his No. 32 AM Racing Ford, which shot him into the outside retaining wall in Turn 4.
As Rose’s car crumpled up, and burst into flames, Amber Balcaen, who was bearing down on Rose, did all she could to avoid her competitor. Balcaen turned sharp left, and was able to successfully avoid colliding with Rose, but her car turned sideways, and she clobbered the inside wall with her No. 22 Venturini Motorsports Toyota.
As she climbed from her battered race car, Balcaen was limping noticeably. Jamie Little reported on the FS2 broadcast that Balcaen was transported to the infield care center on a stretcher. Following a trip to the infield care center, Balcaen, who had her foot and leg wrapped with a support underneath, says that she is relatively fine, aside from her foot, following the crash.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Balcaen said. “It was a decently hard hit. I feel fine everywhere else, just gotta see what’s going on with my foot.”
Rose was checked and released from the infield care center, and says aside from some smoke inhalation, he is fine following the accident.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just breathed in a lot of stuff right there when we caught on fire. Not really sure what happened. I think we had only had like 10-15 green flag laps right there, it just went straight on me. Big hit. This place is the monster for a reason.”
Rose came into the day as the ARCA Menards Series point leader, but his ranking in the point standings will likely take a big hit following his early exit in Friday’s race.