Kentucky fence damaged in Truck Series crash

NASCAR suffered its second catch fence-damaging crash in four days on Thursday night, when an accident involving Ben Kennedy halted the Kentucky Speedway Truck Series race.

Five spectators sustained minor injuries in Sunday's Sprint Cup round at Daytona – which finished in the early hours of Monday morning after a rain delay – as a massive crash at the finish line sent Austin Dillon's Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet flying into the fence.

The Kentucky accident was less violent, but still tore away a section of catchfence and damaged a support post, forcing NASCAR to abandon the race with five laps left. It occurred when Kennedy's Red Horse Racing Toyota tangled with David Gilliland's RBR Enterprises Ford at Turn 1 on a restart after a red flag.

Both ends of the Toyota were ripped away as it rode up over the wall and scraped along the fence toward Turn 2.

The driver of the No. 11 Tundra had moved up the track into Gilliland's Ford after being cleared by his spotter.

"I heard 'Clear' on the radio, so I moved up to the wall and as soon as I went to the wall," Kennedy said after leaving the infield care center. "I guess Gilliland had a run on the outside and pretty much hit me in the right rear, and I went up.

"Thank God for keeping me safe and everything NASCAR does for keeping these tracks safe," added Kennedy. "If it had been some years ago, I'm not sure I would've got out of my truck under my own power like that.

"I got up on top of the wall for a while, and you don't really know what to expect up there. Falling down from the wall to the ground was a pretty hard hit as well."

Polesitter Matt Crafton was declared the winner. With a shove from the Ford of Ryan Blaney, Crafton had taken the lead on lap 145 moments before Kennedy was launched into the fence.