Latest news with #PoconoRaceway
Fox News
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Tire Changer Details Pit Stop Accident That Resulted In Broken Rib, Collapsed Lung
CHICAGO — JP Kealey just followed through with what his father taught him as a young athlete who played hockey and lacrosse when a flying tire nailed him in the chest during a race two weeks ago at Pocono Raceway. Kealey, the rear tire changer for Shane van Gisbergen, picked up his air wrench and performed his pit-stop duties. That was his last stop of the day. A broken rib and collapsed lung made him reluctantly go to the infield medical center and then eventually to the hospital for an overnight stay to make sure his lung reinflated on its own and his broken rib wasn't in danger of puncturing it. "Ever since I was a kid, my dad always told me, 'Unless your leg is broken or something, you better get up off the floor of the ice and get back to the bench,'" Kealey said. "That's just kind of the standard for who I was, and what my dad instilled in me. "No matter what happens, you've got to make sure you finish your job and then worry about what's going on later. It was kind of just instinctual. As soon as it happened, I picked up my [air] gun and I knew I had a job to finish, so I went out there, finished it, and then dealt with whatever's going on after." Kealey is back this weekend, ready to work the Cup race at the Chicago street course, ready to change tires for the race favorite in what he hopes is his second win of the season. "I feel pretty good," Kealey said. "I can do just about anything other than bench heavy [lifting], but nothing that's going to affect me out on pit road. I'm ready to go and get after it this week." Kealey knows what it's like to perform at a high level on a sports stage. A Google search for him will bring up highlights of him as a professional lacrosse player. When the league didn't play during COVID, Kealey was recruited to become a pit-crew member. He's been hit by hockey pucks and lacrosse balls. But never a tire, which is relatively rare. AJ Allmendinger had clipped the tire being held by his tire changer when coming in to pit, and he hit the tire — which flew in the air into Kealey, who was running around his car in the adjacent pit. "You kind of get used to the idea of maybe getting hit by a car," Kealey said. "I saw AJ blow through his box, and I kind of checked up, because as I was jumping off the wall, he got kind of close to me. "So when I checked up, I was looking down at his car to make sure it didn't hit me, and as soon as my eyes popped up to get to my approach to the rear of our car, the tire just hit me right away. I didn't really have a whole lot of time to react. I didn't see it coming. I definitely felt it once it got there." Kealey said he was happy the tire didn't hit him in his head. "When the tire hit me, I kind of knew I broke my rib," Kealey said. "I felt a pop. "But the first thing that came to mind was finishing the stop, so I got back out there and finished the job. ... Once I found some shortness of breath and was struggling to breathe a little bit, that's when I knew something was wrong." Many of the pit crew members on the elite teams are former college or professional athletes. NASCAR teams like them because they have experience performing under high pressure and the ability to master a task thanks to repetition after repetition in practice — while also being able to improvise in the moment if need be. Kealey was not allowed to fly home from Pennsylvania after the injury, so he had to drive back to North Carolina. He got the OK to fly to Chicago this week and had no hesitation about going back to work. When he played college lacrosse, Kealey said he played with a torn ACL and meniscus for eight months. "It's part of it, right?" Kealey said. "We're all athletes. The danger of it's part of what makes it fun. You take hits in any sport. Stuff happens in any sport that you play. ... It doesn't change anything for me. I'm going to go out there and continue to do my job. "It's not anything that's going to be in the back of my mind. I'm still going to jump over the wall and have the same intensity and same drive to go out there and succeed." While crew members wear fire-retardant clothes and a helmet in case they fall or get upended by a car, Kealey knows there really isn't a way to protect himself from a flying tire. "People have been joking and asking if I'm going to wear a flak jacket, stuff like that," Kealey said. "But I'm not too worried about it. "I won't put anything on that's going to slow me down. ... I'm not really worried about it. It was just a freak accident. I'm going to go out there and just continue to do my job." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Relentless consistency, restless ambition drive Elliotts 2025 season
Chase Elliott's body language as he leaned against his car on pit road following Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway was unmistakable. He was understandably spent after a physically demanding day in the heat and humidity, driving 160 laps around the iconic and super-demanding 2.5-mile triangular-shaped track. And the 2020 series champion climbed out of his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, simultaneously encouraged with his fifth-place showing, but also wanting more. Advertisement Although Elliott, 29, is the only driver in the series to have scored top-20 finishes in all 17 races to date, he is a former champion, a perpetual winner and is still frustrated every time he does not take home a trophy. And he remains racing for that first piece of hardware this season, hoping Saturday night's Quaker State 400 (7 ET on TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Atlanta's 1.5-mile EchoPark Speedway changes his trajectory. Elliott is ranked fifth in the championship, 80 points behind his Hendrick teammate and standings leader William Byron, with nine races remaining to settle which 16 drivers advance to the 2025 NASCAR Playoffs. He is the highest-ranked driver without a win, which is both a testament to his work and a motivator to do even better. 'That is a good question,' he said when asked if he considers this a 'good season.' RELATED: Elliott secures consecutive top fives: 'Not what we're after, but it's good' 'Good? Sure, but it's not where I want to be, no doubt. I think for us there have been some high spots and to be honest, there have been weeks where we have run well where we have had a good finish, and there have been weeks where we have not had a good finish and I can go home and be like, 'man, we were in the mix, and we had good pace today.' And those are the weeks where you just want to feel like you are in the ball game as it pertains to pace, doing the right things, and getting up in there and giving yourself a shot. Advertisement 'Those days, I can go home and have something to be proud of,' he continued. 'It's the days and weekends where we are just not even relevant that I think are the most frustrating to me. We have had more of those than I would want to have, and that we would want to have as a team. 'So, I think it's been good but not satisfactory for myself or to our team, but there is still a lot of racing left in the season, and I think we have ourselves in a position to make a mediocre day alright. We can build from it, and we still have a chance.' Sunday's Pocono showing marked the first time this season Elliott has had back-to-back top-five finishes after earning a season-best third place at the inaugural Mexico City road course a week ago. And the next three races include a stop at the Georgia-native's 'home track' near Atlanta, followed by back-to-back road course races — on the Chicago Street Course and Sonoma Raceway. Elliott won from pole position at Atlanta in 2022 and has eight top-10 finishes in 13 starts there. Advertisement The road courses, however, have absolutely been Elliott's talent palette. With seven career road course victories — on five different tracks — he is the best among active drivers on that style of track. Only a pair of NASCAR Hall of Famers — Tony Stewart with eight wins and Jeff Gordon with nine — have won more on road courses in NASCAR history. 'It's, do you really have a legit shot at winning that day? I mean, just based on your pace and so on and so forth,' Elliott said of strategy for these next races. 'It's super circumstantial, the best way to answer that. The biggest circumstance that is going to dictate what you do in those moments is what kind of pace you have, and what kind of real shot you have to win the race when you just kind of sit back and look at the day so far and compare it to the guys that have had good air and are out front. MORE: Elliott through the years | All of his Cup wins 'I have a pretty good idea when that is the case and when that is not the case, but certainly [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] and everybody on the box on the team, they are the ones that are watching that much closer than I am able to. So, we will see, and I hope that we are fast, and I am down with giving up stage points to give ourselves a shot to win, all day long, for sure.' Advertisement Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe claimed another automatic playoff bid with his victory at Pocono on Sunday; six of the last eight race winners have been first-time race winners this season. Eleven of the 16 automatic bids have been claimed by race winners, with nine races remaining to settle the final five spots. Notably, the TNT broadcast portion of the schedule begins this week and will feature an inaugural In-Season Challenge — a $1 million-to-win incentive program unfolding over the next five races. ISC: Fill out your bracket for a shot at $1 million! The top 32 drivers in the points standings following the Nashville race qualified for the bonus program, and the seeding was set based on how drivers fared in the Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono races. Each week, two drivers are pitted against one another, with the lower finishing driver that day eliminated in a bracket-style competition. The final driver-to-driver round, based on the outcome of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will decide the champion and winner of that $1 million check.
Daily Mail
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Shocking moment NASCAR mechanic is struck by a flying tire during pit stop
A shocking moment occurred during a NASCAR race last weekend when a pit crew member was struck by a flying tire. JP Kealey was working as a tire changer for Shane Van Gisbergen when fellow Trackhouse Racing driver AJ Allmendinger came in for a pit stop at the same time as Van Gisbergen. But things went awry at the Pocono Raceway when Allmendinger, as seen in footage from his car, slid deep into his pit box and knocked a tire out of his own pit crew member's hands. That caused the tire to go flying towards a nearby Kealey, and the object drove his air gun into his side. Kealey, a former pro lacrosse player, was seen briefly hunched over in pain on the ground before resuming his work. However, it was later revealed by Skip Flores of the Stacking Pennies podcast that Kealey had been hospitalized with two cracked ribs. Glad our pit crew teammates on the 88 were okay after this little issue on pit road. JP is TUFF so we know he'll be alright. 💪 — Kaulig Racing (@KauligRacing) June 22, 2025 Kealey then added to Bozi Tatarevic that he had also suffered a partially collapsed lung. Following the scary moment, rookie driver Van Gisbergen finished 31st at The Great American Getaway 400. Trackhouse Racing has since named Noel 'Bud' Merrill Jr. as a substitute rear tire changer for this weekend's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. According to an online bio, Kealey played lacrosse collegiately at Robert Morris University, and was the 10th overall pick of the National Lacrosse League Draft in 2017. He began his pro playing career with the New England Blackwolves before suiting up for the Buffalo Bandits. Kealey also works as an assistant boys' varsity lacrosse coach for Charlotte Latin School in North Carolina.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Kurt Busch Makes Painful Pocono Admission During Emotional Return to Tricky Triangle
Kurt Busch Makes Painful Pocono Admission During Emotional Return to Tricky Triangle originally appeared on Athlon Sports. For years, Kurt Busch viewed Pocono Raceway fondly. He won there three times in 2005, 2007 and 2016. Good memories. Advertisement Then July 23, 2022 happened. The 23XI Racing pilot got sideways during his qualifying run at The Tricky Triangle and backed the No. 45 car into the wall. The incident didn't appear to be anything extraordinary. However, as everyone later found out, the back end of the then-Next Gen car was too stiff and the drivers absorbed much of the energy during impact. Busch suffered a concussion. Kurt Busch on the flag stand as the honorary starter at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Dedmon-Imagn Images Initially, he was supposed to be out for only a few races. Then, his return kept getting delayed. Ultimately, he didn't return for the rest of the 2022 season and never raced again in NASCAR. On Saturday, Busch appeared at Pocono during the pre-race show on Prime and was congratulated on his recent nomination into the Hall of Fame when he made a surprisingly candid admission about his trip to Pennsylvania. 'It's been fun just taking it all in and telling stories and reminiscing about some of those old races and talking about like some of the deep stuff, too,' Busch said. 'You know, it's not always peaches and cream and sunshine and rainbows, but man, it's just an honor to go in on first ballot and to take it all in. Advertisement 'I haven't been back to Pocono since my accident. So this, it's like a cleansing, purging weekend as well.' Busch's "cleansing weekend" will continue on Sunday when he watches his brother and former 23XI racing teammates compete on the 2.5-mile track. Coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on Prime. Related: Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott Make List No Cup Series Driver Wants to Be On This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 21, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Kurt Busch Comment Unexpectedly Sparks Chorus of Boos From Pocono Crowd
Kurt Busch Comment Unexpectedly Sparks Chorus of Boos From Pocono Crowd originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kurt Busch and his fans will never forget Pocono Raceway. There are good memories from the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track, including three wins in 2005, 2007 and 2016. Advertisement But there's a really bad one that happened on July 23, 2022. That's the last time the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion ever competed in the sport when he backed his No. 45 car into the wall during qualifying and suffered a concussion. On Saturday, the 46-year-old returned to The Tricky Triangle for the first time since his accident three years ago and admitted during Prime's coverage of practice and qualifying that it was a 'cleansing/purging' experience. Kurt Busch addresses the media at Daytona International Yeazell-Imagn Images The scheduled Grand Marshal for Sunday's race then drew an unexpected response from fans when asked by analyst Corey LaJoie if he was going to wave the green flag as part of his weekend duties. Advertisement 'I'm gonna be 'Gentlemen, start your engines,'' the former driver said. 'The governor wants to wave the green flag so I'm learning how to share with that.' A chorus of boos rang out from those standing nearby, obviously expressing their displeasure with Governor Josh Shapiro. 'Whoops. Normally I'm the guy getting booed,' Busch joked. 'No, you guys have been awesome.' Busch rubbed plenty of fans the wrong way earlier in his career. However, in the later years, the tide had turned and many of those same fans were supportive of the 2017 Daytona 500 winner. And there was no better evidence of that than three years ago when his career came to an abrupt end at Pocono and he received so many well wishes from those fans and the industry as a whole. Advertisement Related: Kurt Busch Makes Painful Pocono Admission During Emotional Return to Tricky Triangle This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 22, 2025, where it first appeared.
