Byron uninjured after seven-car Kansas pileup

William Byron walked away uninjured from what he said was his hardest hit.

With 15 laps to go in the KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway, Byron, who had just taken two new tires a couple laps earlier under caution, was fighting for a top-10 position off Turn 4 when he got loose underneath Clint Bowyer. Byron tagged Bowyer in the left rear, sending Bowyer spinning.

Byron then hit the wall head-on before being hit on the right side by Ryan Newman, which briefly sent his car airborne. The No. 24 was heavily damaged, and a fireball erupted from underneath it before the car came to rest.

Others involved in the accident were Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon.

“That one hurt really bad, but I’m fine,” said Byron. “We took two tires there and couldn’t get it turned on the bottom and then got sucked around at the last minute. It just should have been lower than that. Just couldn’t rotate. Couldn’t cut.

“We were trying to kind of push some things there, and it just didn’t work out. But, we’re going to wherever is next. That was definitely the hardest hit I’ve been in, but, I’m thankful to be walking, so that’s good.”

The red flag was displayed for 13 minutes, and the cars stopped for cleanup.

“We were just an innocent bystander really,” said Newman. “They crashed kind of underneath me, in front of me and just got all wadded up. I mean, I had no place to go. It’s just unfortunate, kind of a ho-hum race I guess you could say for so long and then to get 14 laps from the end and tear up a bunch of cars like that just kind of sucks.”

Said Dillon: “I tried to avoid it, but drove in the grass and knocked the radiator out of it. Tough ending for our Germain Racing team, but we’ll go back to the shop and continue to push to make our cars better.”

Buescher said the field was getting impatient and then wadded up a bunch of cars.

“We just got swiped or something that who knows, I haven’t seen a replay,” said Buescher. “I don’t know. I’m sure just uncalled for.”