Saturday's Ag-Pro 300 race at Talladega saw a number of huge wrecks, including a very scary crash for Blaine Perkins, driver of the No. 02 Chevrolet for Our Motorsports. The 23-year-old found himself flipping six times on the back straightaway.
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Perkins got clipped by the sliding car of Dexter Stace, who also had a very hard head-on impact with the inside retaining wall. Perkins then got turned over when Jade Buford's car hit him. Blaine was able to climb from his car and walk away to a waiting ambulance.
Perkins was then taken to a local hospital. On Sunday, his family said that he was "alert and in good spirits."
Blaine Perkins' Tallaedga Wreck
The full speed look at Blaine Perkins crash is INTENSE pic.twitter.com/ogO3Tejq9f
— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) April 22, 2023
You can clearly see how rough the ride was for Perkins.
At first, it was unclear to viewers watching the race live why Perkins' car had suffered such severe damage. Fox's cameras stayed glued to Stacey's car as he hit the inside wall, and they showed a brief image of the No. 02. Viewers had to wait until after a commercial break before Fox showed Perkins climbing from the remains of his car before finally showing exactly what happened.
During the crash, a wheel from Perkins' car came off and was hit by the No. 26 of Kaz Grala as he slowed down. The race was red-flagged following the crash. The wreck happened at the end of the second stage of the 300-mile race.
Stacey was checked and cleared at the infield care center, as was Buford. Stacey told Fox's Josh Sims that the hit wasn't nearly as scary as it looked, and he talked about what happened.
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
"I'm not quite sure what happened, whether I got loose or I got bumped," Stacey said before seeing the replay. "Ah, I just got free and lost it."
NBC Sports' Dustin Long shared a video of the remains of Perkins' race car as it was transported to the garage area.
That, however, wasn't the only big wreck of the race. With less than five laps to go, race leader Daniel Hemric was turned by Sheldon Creed and ended up causing the "big one" that saw Hemric end up flipped upside down and coming to rest on his roof.
The Big One at Talladega Superspeedway! Daniel Hemric is out of his car. https://t.co/jlh39dD4JU pic.twitter.com/qFfFgBBesl
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 22, 2023
Hemric thanked the NASCAR safety crew after getting checked and released from the infield care center.
"Super big thanks to NASCAR, and all the safety crew. That's the first time I've ever been over I think aside from go-kart racing."
Perkins luckily was able to walk away and has since been released from the hospital. All signs are good that he will be back and ready to try again next time he gets behind the wheel. All of these drivers were lucky to walk away, as each of the incidents looked pretty scary. NASCAR certainly isn't perfect, but the cars and the safety of the drivers proved that it could handle what it was facing on Saturday.
