Ware lucky to escape injury in nasty Cup impact at Texas

Cody Ware was left with only left ankle discomfort after a scary crash Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway when his car hit both the Turn 4 wall and the pit road wall.

On lap 168, Ware’s No. 51 Ford Mustang snapped to the right and hit the outside wall head-on. The severely damaged car then came down the track and down pit road, bouncing off the wall of Alex Bowman’s pit stall. Fortunately, Ware missed the opening in the pit wall right before Bowman’s stall.

Ware climbed from his car under his own power but then needed attention. He was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher but was treated and released from the infield care center.

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Robby Benton, the general manager of Rick Ware Racing, said Ware had ankle discomfort, but did not suffer a concussion, and also had x-rays taken.

“No broken bones,” said Benton. “I feel like we’ll probably follow up just as a precaution. He’ll see a specialist with Ortho Carolina once we get home. For as hard of a hit as that was, we’re thankful it is as clean as it is, and he’ll be OK to go home tonight.”

Ware’s impact to the outside wall in Turn 4 resulted in repairs needing to be made to fix its shape. No one was injured on pit road.

“We’re thankful to the track crew here,” Benton said. “We had a bit of a delay going through the normal protocol of x-rays and reviews and making sure there were no fractures. All of that came back clear. He’ll be on the team plane with us to return to Charlotte tonight, and we’re happy he is OK.”