Austin Dillon said he was “feeling pretty good” and brushed aside calls to end restrictor-plate racing in an appearance on the TODAY Show, less than two days after his car went airborne at Daytona International Speedway.
“It’s not the greatest feeling in the world …” he said of the wreck. “When the car flips over you know it’s getting ready to be a rough ride. You hold on with all you’ve got. When it hit the fence, I didn’t really know where I was, I was still kind of holding on talking myself through the wreck and after we landed back on the ground, I was thinking it almost over and then the worst part of the crash was the very end when the two cars slid into me.”
Five spectators were injured but Dillon miraculously walked away from the crash that sent his car flying into a fence and then in a multi-car pileup at the Coke Zero 400. Dillon said that he didn’t think restrictor-plate racing should be eliminated from NASCAR, though he said that speeds should be brought down a bit. Mostly in the interview he complimented the sports’ advancements in safety and the crew members who rushed in after the wreck.
“You see a wreck like that, you shouldn’t be talking to a person as early as you’re talking to me today,” he told Matt Lauer.
Dillon said he expects to be back at the track this weekend.
