It was not a good weekend for Kyle Busch at Bristol Motor Speedway. After dominating Saturday’s preliminary Xfinity race with Kyle Larson, a bad restart at the end cost Busch a win. During the Sprint Cup race on Sunday, Busch encountered right front tire troubles all race long and hit the wall three times as tires kept blowing on the right front of his car.

The third time was the clincher as the damage was just too much to continue. As Busch drove back to the garage, things would get worse.

As he arrived in the garage, a fan who was taking pictures with her phone got clipped by Busch on his way to his garage stall. Even though Busch hit the brakes and tried to stop, he was running on a blown tire, a broken brake line as well as oil coming out of the back of the car, he didn’t have the best stopping power and hit her leg. Talking to FOXSports.com, Erin Vandyke went to the infield care center and then to the emergency room since the center at Bristol didn’t have X-ray capabilities. Either way, it seems as if she will be fine and no doubt could have been worse.

I am glad the fan is fine but anyone who blames Busch for this is entirely off-base. What this fan did may be the kind of thing a fan wants to do and no doubt they should, but you must keep your head on a swivel if you have a pit pass and can be down in the pit and garage area before, during and after a race. NASCAR is one of the rare sports that welcomes fans to get as close to the action as possible, but not that close.

Take it from someone who has been in a garage area while a NASCAR race was going on. Just like driving on the highway, you must be aware of your surroundings and know what’s all around you or else you could get seriously hurt or worse, get killed. I operated a camera on pit road for a NASCAR race once and whether you are in the garage and pit area as a fan or are working, you must be aware of everything around you and you do not get involved in what the crews are doing. While it may not be a 3,500 pound race car diving behind you, crew members are transporting tires and gasoline cans. They may be jumping over the wall during a pit stop and cannot have someone in their way when they need a part or tool to work on the car. These things may interrupt the team during the race costing crucial seconds but more importantly, can seriously hurt someone.

I’m glad the fan seems okay and hope that is the case, but definitely pay more attention. It may not be common for a race car to drive into the garage area halfway into a race but it doesn’t take that long for a situation to happen and all of a sudden, someone is driving into said garage and cannot work around inattentive fans who are taking pictures. Thankfully, this didn’t have a more tragic ending because it very well could have been.

[FOX Sports]

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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