Here is the incredibly hard crash that just occurred involving Tyler Ankrum, Thad Moffitt, Keith McGee and Jeffrey Earnhardt. pic.twitter.com/hJejhYS5Fp
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) May 25, 2024
Fortunately, everyone seems to be alright after a massive crash on Lap 68 of Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After the restart to open the final Stage of the race, Tyler Ankrum seemed to have an issue with his No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado, and he turned to the inside of the track seemingly in an effort to scrape off some speed.
Ankrum skidded all the way across the track, and went head-first into the outside wall. Moments after that impact, Thad Moffitt, who had nowhere to go, t-boned the passenger side of Ankrum’s truck.
It was a massive impact, and as Ankrum skidded back down the track, Keith McGee couldn’t miss the No. 18 truck, and made contact, which sent McGee into Jeffrey Earnhardt’s No. 67 MBM Motorsports truck. Earnhardt would go hard into the outside wall as well, which would end his night.
After being evaluated in the care center following the crash, Ankrum says he is fine physically, but mentally, he has taken a hit with all of his recent bad luck
“Emotionally, no. Physically, yeah, whatever,” Ankrum answered when questioned on if he was okay following the crash. “I didn’t see much. Based off of the replay I saw it’s so hard to say what actually happened. It sucks, racing hasn’t been too friendly lately.”
Ankrum explained that his truck just snapped on him while running down the backstretch.
“It was just so weird. It just snapped me around,” Ankrum said. “We were going around the straightaway, two wide, I lost the nose in [turns] 1 and 2, we were just going down the backstretch, and I was just spinning out.”
Moffitt said the crash was incredibly hard, and the impact actually knocked the wind out of him.
“Yeah, it was a pretty hard hit,” Moffitt explained. “Sudden stop. Knocked the breath out of me for a minute, but I’m all good now.”
After being cleared from the infield care center, McGee explained that he was told by his spotter to go high when Ankrum initially spun to the inside of the track, but as Ankrum skidded back up the track, McGee attempted to work his way back down, and ultimately, ran out of room.
“I saw Ankrum, who was already spinning,” McGee said. “I tried to go low, I thought I was clear of him. He clipped me right in the right rear, and that shoved me down into Jeffrey, and that spun us up into the wall. Tough break. It sucks to end it this way, but that’s auto racing.”
Earnhardt was dissapointed by the early exit from the race, but was thankful for the run with the MBM Motorsports team.
“Unfortunate,” Earnhardt stated. “We didn’t have the best showing that we had hoped for here. We missed the setup a little bit. It took away some of our practice, but still thankful for the opportunity.”
