Kansas did what Kansas does best: delivered an unforgettable race. Right from Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace’s fiery run-in to Chase Elliott’s master class victory, the Hollywood Casino 400 had it all. However, one scary incident fails to leave the minds of fans. Zane Smith’s day was cut short while running the high line into Turn 3 alongside teammate Todd Gilliland when he suddenly found John Hunter Nemechek diving low. Although Smith was safe, one NASCAR driver stepped in to take the blame.

Speaking at a media availability, Nemecheck made his feelings clear about the clash: “Just made a mistake on my part. I owned up to it. Coming off of turn two, I was three wide top. I had a run down the back straightaway. I was locked onto Zane down the back straightaway, pushing him. Ty gave me a shot from behind, helping push the line.”

However, chaos took over. John Hunter Nemechek squeezed and pinned Smith against the wall, sending the FRM Mustang skating for yards before it flipped, went airborne, and completed two violent rotations. Miraculously, the car slammed back down on all four tires.

As Zane Smith’s machine rode the wall at a 90° angle, the 28-year-old’s own No. 42 car ricocheted off the rear of Ty Gibbs, then bounced into Josh Berry before careening back up the track and crunching the wall again.

Reflecting on his move, Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club driver gave his perspective on the race. He said, “ So I was going to go try and run three wide middle and ultimately just didn’t have enough room between Zane’s left rear quarter panel and my right front getting in the corner there. And I got tight and then kind of got sucked into his left rear quarter, and then we were along for the ride after that. So just a mistake on my part.”

It wasn’t until Nemechek left the infield care center that he finally saw the full replay of the carnage and realized the extent of Smith’s wild ride. Zane Smith was visibly extremely frustrated with his run at Kansas and called it a “bummer.” However, in an honest admission, John further added, “It’s unacceptable and definitely have to learn from it and not let that happen again.”

Neither Smith nor Nemechek is part of the postseason field this year, but both are still clawing for that elusive first victory of the season. The LMC driver sits 26th in the standings with 590 points, while Smith trails close behind in 27th at 537.

However, most fans didn’t hesitate to blame the Next-Gen cars for the crash. But one NASCAR exec was impressed with how NASCAR came away impressed with Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford after its terrifying Kansas crash.

NASCAR is pleased by the No. 38 Ford’s survival in a wild wreck

On the Hauler Talk podcast, NASCAR’s managing director of communications, Mike Forde, explains that the at-track inspection went so smoothly that the officials handed the car back to Front Row Motorsports instead of hauling it to the R&D center for a deep dive.

The wreck itself was wild; contact with JHN’s No. 42 Toyota shoved Smith hard into the SAFER barrier. His car tipped onto its driver’s side, skated hundreds of feet at a 90° angle to the track, and then barrel-rolled before somehow landing back on all four wheels.

Forde admitted, “We never like seeing that, so there is concern that it happened, but from the structural integrity of the car, we’re not concerned. We were very, very happy with how all that went down. … Nothing was bent, nothing was abnormal, so we gave the car back to the team, and they brought it back to the shop.”

Once the car was back at the shop, NASCAR officials snapped additional photos and met with the team to review the crash. Dr. John Patalak, the sanctioning body’s vice president of safety engineering, also studied the Incident Data Acquisition System, which records G-forces and uses a high-speed camera to evaluate cockpit and restraint performance.

He added, “(Patalak) really liked what he saw from the safety systems. Zane came away really good there as far as how his seat positioning was, and there was no concern there, either. So, I think the next steps are we’ll look at the race track…Because cars do get pinched up against the wall often, and you don’t always see that. But all in all, we’re pretty happy with how all that went from a car standpoint. … Everything was good — so good that they may be able to use that chassis again and just pop a new body on it. We’ve had definitely other chassis that were in much worse shape than that one.”

And in a bit of awkward garage drama, security had to be called to Smith’s team hauler, parked right next door to Nemechek. That was scary, wasn’t it?