Saturday’s American Ethanol e15 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway was humming along just past the halfway point on Saturday when a relatively tame affair took a wild and unexpected twist.
You can thank Mason Mingus and the wet infield grass for injecting the drama.
Heading to pit road for routine service under green, Mingus was going too fast and missed the pit entrance, hitting a cone and then going completely airborne for a split second as his truck bounced up in the air.
Thankfully, Mingus’ vehicle came to rest on all four wheels and no one was injured. The incident led to a lengthy delay in the action, however, and left the driver apologetic.
“I don’t know what really happened,” Mingus said during a live interview on FS2. “I guess I tried to get in the pits too hot. I’m not really sure. The grass was really wet. I didn’t need to tear up a truck like that. That was a bad mistake. That was about as bad as it gets.”
Within just a few minutes of Mingus’ wreck, a few drivers lit up Twitter with renewed outcries for NASCAR to do away with all infield grass — a source of considerable consternation among competitors long before Saturday’s race.
