NASCAR at Indianapolis: Ryan Blaney crew member injured in pit road pileup

Tom Gatto

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NASCAR at Indianapolis: Ryan Blaney crew member injured in pit road pileup image

A member of Ryan Blaney's pit crew suffered what looked to be a lower-body injury when he was struck by two cars during a wreck on pit road early in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The crew member, identified by NASCAR.com as tire changer Zach Price, was working on the right side of Blaney's car during a competition caution on Lap 16 when he was first struck by Justin Allgaier's car and then momentarily pinned between Blaney's car and Brennan Poole's car. Poole was trying to avoid contact after other cars had wrecked at the narrow entrance to pit road.

"Once the wreck started happening in front of us and we all got bottled up there, one car after another was getting run into," Allgaier said.

Price appeared to be seriously injured as he slid on one leg to the left side of Blaney's car to complete the pit stop.

NASCAR AT INDY: Live updates, highlights from Sunday's race

Blaney's team later reported that the incident looked worse than it was, and Price was smiling as he was wheeled into an ambulance.

Team Penske announced after the race (per Fox Sports) that Price was transported to Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital, where he was treated and released. He will travel with the team to its North Carolina headquarters and then undergo further evaluation.

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 11 minutes, 17 seconds for cleanup and debris removal. Allgaier and Poole were forced out of the race because of damage to their cars. Four other drivers, including Martin Truex Jr., were also knocked out of the race after the initial pileup.

Material from the NASCAR Wire Service was used in this report.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.