The Tricky Triangle featured some notorious events last weekend. During the Great American Getaway 400 race, multiple NASCAR Cup Series drivers faced brake issues. The ones caught in this involved Riley Herbst, Michael McDowell, and Bubba Wallace. Then, Ryan Blaney’s cool suit failed and the Team Penske driver faced the 80-degree sweltering heat. But the Long Pond, Pennsylvania track also featured some darker events.
Pocono Raceway has historically been a site of spine-chilling injuries. But while most of those accidents involved drivers, fans were not excluded either. Almost four days after the 2025 Pocono festivities ended, the latest injury got uncovered, leaving fans supremely worried.
A pall of concern enshrouds NASCAR
Fans have always been the foundation of the sport. Since its inception in 1949, NASCAR has thrived on the excitement of its fanbase. And over 76 years, the memories have added to the fans’ nostalgia. However, those memories have been a mixture of good and bad. Pocono Raceway has heralded a load of fearsome memories – in a 1982 crash with Tim Richmond, Dale Earnhardt broke his kneecap and then Kurt Busch incurred a crippling concussion in a Pocono qualifier in 2022. The track’s wacky triangular configuration and dizzily different turns can confuse drivers at times, as Bubba Wallace was on Sunday. However, the consequences of his Lap 54 crash were more grave than initially visible.
13 laps after Riley Herbst lost a brake rotor, 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace faced the same fate. His brake rotor punctured the No. 23 Toyota’s right-front tire and Wallace slammed the wall. According to journalist Jenna Fryer’s X post, Wallace’s crash may have resulted in a young fan’s injury. The screenshot of the Facebook post read, “I am looking for anyone who was at the pocono racetrack on Sunday and was sitting in section 123, the front row of 127, or the beginning of section 124 who saw, has photos, or videos of the debris that hit my 14-year-old daughter in the face and knocked her teeth out. Happened at the first lap after the restart of Bubba Wallace’s crash.”
Someone sent this to me, FWIW. Sunday #NASCAR race at @PoconoRaceway pic.twitter.com/mGrLsWwWLE
— Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) June 25, 2025
This unfortunate fallout may have been a result of NASCAR’s overarching issues that day. Exploding brake rotors affected many drivers including Bubba Wallace. The 23XI driver said, “As frustrating as it gets not being able to pass here in Pocono, we were going to just take our lumps and march our way through and set ourselves up for the end of the race, but the brakes just didn’t want to hang on that long.” What is more, the Pocono race saw somebody else hospitalized – a flying tire hit Shane Van Gisbergen’s rear tire changer, JP Kealey. Although he was able to finish his work, Kealey had cracked ribs and a collapsed lung upon later examination.
This fest of injuries left many fans worried. What is more, the injury of the 14-year-old girl sent ripples of concern in the community.
Fans take the sport to task
Well, the issue of safety is nothing new in NASCAR. From Dale Earnhardt‘s 2001 Daytona crash to the Next-Gen car causing multiple injuries in 2022, several pressing problems have been associated with safety in the sport. The latest instance of the teenage girl only continues the debate about how NASCAR needs to be more cautious. One fan said history has taught him a good lesson: “And that’s why I dont sit in the bottom handful of rows at any track.” Although Bubba Wallace was not directly involved, people called for action from his team. The fan was injured right after 23XI Racing’s crash, so they wrote: “That sucks for her. 23XI should send her a shit ton of free gear and free tickets to next years race.”
However, the larger onus fell upon NASCAR’s shoulders. Just the fact that Wallace was not the only one facing brake rotor issues points to the Next-Gen car’s impact. Wallace’s Toyota and Michael McDowell’s Ford faced similar issues, so one fan demanded damage costs: “Drivers were screaming over the radio about brake rotor all over the track. NASCAR needs to pay any and all medical expenses for this young lady.”
With the sheer number of mishaps plaguing Pocono that day, another fan guessed that NASCAR made a grave mistake. They wrote, “My guess (just a guess) is she caught a chunk of the rotor that NASCAR for some reason didn’t throw a caution for until well after the fact.” Somebody else painted a terrifying picture of the same issue affecting a fellow driver. “Had to be pieces from a rotor off one of the cars that had issues. If nascar went green with that on the track it’s absolutely insane, imagine that went through the windshield of a driver at speed?”
Clearly, the young fan’s injury highlights a matter of urgency which NASCAR needs to tend to. Let us see what steps the sport takes in this regard.
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