By EMS1 Staff
RICHMOND, Va. — An ambulance that caused a crash during a NASCAR race did not stop when told to do so, according to officials.
NBC Sports reported that an ambulance at the entrance of pit road during a Cup race at Richmond Raceway caused NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth to crash into the back of Clint Bowyer’s car after several cars braked. Kenseth’s car was not able to continue due to a damaged radiator.
NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller said the EMS provider was ordered to stop.
“We had a situation where a directive was given from the tower and it wasn’t followed, and we’ll do our due diligence why it wasn’t followed and make sure that we’re prepared to never make that mistake again,” Miller said. “It is a very strange thing. The track workers are usually very, very good at following the directives and tonight they didn’t.’’
NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne said he experienced a close call trying to avoid the ambulance and the cars.
“Everybody is braking hard because what happens is the leaders go to the line and everybody speeds up to get there and it’s an accordion effect,” Kahne said. “It gets worse the further back. Usually you have a couple of lanes and you offset yourself. There was only basically one lane and everybody ran out of room.”
Although Kenseth was unable to continue the race, he still qualified for the playoffs.