(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Jamie McMurray blew a left rear tire and got sideways coming down the backstretch at Talladega and was hit by the No. 31 car of Ryan Newman. This sent McMurray over on his roof and he barrel rolled several times before coming to rest on his wheels. McMurray, Newman, and Ty Dillon all suffered damage in the incident.
“I think that we blew a left-rear tire. That is what it sounded like. I heard the tire start to come apart and you are kind a long for the ride. The car, I think, it turned to the right and then kind of back to the left and I obviously was in the front of that draft and then once it starts rolling you don’t have any control. You can’t tell what is up and what is down you are spinning so fast. I was just thankful. Honestly, the whole time it’s flipping I was like, just please land on the right way up so I can get out. You just never know if there is going to be a fire. We literally had only run four or five laps so you know you have a full tank of fuel and so to get out upside down I’ve never done that, but it’s a challenge when you watch guys try to do that. So, I was just thankful that the car landed on all four”, said McMurray.
McMurray seemed to be ok after exiting the crashed vehicle. He, Dillon, and Newman will both have to go to backup cars. The crash came two laps after McMurray set the fastest time of the day with a lap average of nearly 204 mph. No word on whether NASCAR will take measures to slow the cars down after this incident.
I don’t understand why tires on NASCAR cars blow out at any speed but INDY style cars run 220 very few failures. Time to get rid of Goodyears?
Thanks for reading John. I don’t think this was a Goodyear problem directly. I also do not believe the failure rate in NASCAR related to a tire construction or quality issue is any higher than other forms of motorsports. Goodyear racing tires in NASCAR are rated to 220 mph. McMurray was only estimated to be doing about 210 when this incident occured.