NASCAR driver Myatt Snider needed a few seconds to get his bearings before heading to the infield care center at Daytona International Speedway. Snider had just climbed out of his car after a airborne accident that separated his car’s engine from the rest of the vehicle.
“You don’t really know what’s going on. You’re just going some direction and it’s not the right one,” Snider said, speaking to media half an hour after the worst accident of his career.
Snider’s No. 31 Chevrolet hit the outside wall on the final lap of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. His car went airborne, hitting the fence, and skidded across the track and into the grass in flames. The back-half of his car was entirely ripped apart as Austin Hill surged to the front of the pack to win the season-opener as cars collected behind him.
“Motor’s gone, fuel cell’s gone, there was not much left of that racecar,” Snider said. “Yard sale.”
He described the situation that sent him for his first flip in his career, which was his 67th race in the series.
“It’s the last lap and everybody’s trying their best to push as hard as possible and I’m trying to keep as much momentum as I can get,” Snider said. “I felt a push and started feeling the car go right and I’m like, ‘Crap. I might be along for a ride here.’ And sure enough, I was.”
Despite the violent nature of the accident, Snider was able to walk away relatively unscathed. He said that he’ll have his left foot further evaluated, as he was experiencing some soreness there.
“It is sore but I think I should be fine to race, so it’s just a matter of leaving it to the experts,” he said.
Team owner Richard Childress described the relief he felt upon seeing Snider exit his vehicle after the crash.
“That was on our hearts and minds until he was safe and out of the car,” Childress said, adding that the car, including the rollcage and seats worked, as they were designed to come apart to protect the driver.
“I’m extremely blessed to be as OK as I am and glad that Jordan Anderson Racing built such a safe race car,” said Snider, who finished 22nd. “Man, I really wanted to get a top-five finish. We were so close. I felt like we were in contention all day. That’s just the nature of the beast in racing.”
“I can’t profess enough how glad I am that I’m all good,” Snider said.
The Daytona 500, in which NASCAR’s Next Gen car will debut in superspeedway competition, is Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
