It is safe to assume that Zane Smith had no shortage of anger for John Hunter Nemechek after their Kansas Speedway tangle. The No. 42 Toyota squeezed Smith into the SAFER barrier, flipping the No. 38 onto its driver’s side. From there, it grated along the wall for several hundred feet before completing a lazy barrel roll and clunking back onto its wheels. That description is scary, no? However, what NASCAR’s managing director of communications revealed might shock you.

On the latest episode of the Hauler Talk podcast, Mike Forde said, “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 home from Kansas, NASCAR officials took additional photos and sat down with the team for follow-up discussions. Meanwhile, Dr. John Patalak, NASCAR’s vice president of safety engineering, reviewed the Incident Data Acquisition System — complete with G-force metrics and high-speed cockpit footage — to evaluate how Smith’s restraints held up.

Forde 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 racetrack, look at some more of the data as far as how it got up on the wall. 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.”

Right after the spine-chilling visual, the safety crew rushed to the 26-year-old’s Ford, and bigger problems with the track were revealed. According to the NASCAR officials’ scanner channel, there was a  2-inch gouge in the racetrack around the Ally signage on the wall. Officials noted that the wall was in good shape after the FRM driver rode into it. The wall repair crew acknowledged the severity of the crash; however, they also mentioned not doing anything about the gouge that was in the track.

Forde confirmed that security was quietly dispatched to Zane Smith’s hauler, which just happened to be parked right next to Nemechek’s. After all, Smith had already lit into JHN from the infield center, leaving little doubt about where he placed the blame. However, the fans still point their fingers at the Next-Gen’s performance.

But the Managing Director was concerned about maintaining safety between the two drivers: “It’s not our first rodeo, so sometimes when we see that there might be trouble brewing, we send (security). That was just trying to keep the peace, get ahead of it, and make sure that there were no issues between those two drivers, and there were not. So, I think we’re good there.”

And now, as the dust settles on Kansas, with Zane Smith absolutely frustrated with his race, calling it a bummer, JHN has recently taken accountability for the crash.

John Hunter Nemechek calls his move unacceptable amid the Kansas crash disaster

There is no secret that Zane Smith’s time there was cut short. He was running in the high line into Turn 3 alongside teammate Todd Gilliland when he suddenly saw JHN diving low. Smith walked away unharmed, but the No. 42 Toyota didn’t hesitate to shoulder the blame.

Speaking at a media availability, the Legacy Motor Club driver made his feelings known: “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.”

John Hunter Nemechek forced Smith into the wall, and while Smith’s car clung to the wall at a near-vertical perpendicular angle, JHN’s car ricocheted off Ty Gibbs’ rear bumper, collided with Josh Berry, and then shot back up the track for another crushing blow into the wall.

Jimmie Johnson‘s LMC driver added, “It’s unacceptable and definitely have to learn from it and not let that happen again.” Only after leaving the infield center did Nemechek catch the full replay, and that is when he grasped just how wild Smith’s ride had been. And as NASCAR heads to Charlotte, the 28-year-old driver is bound to be more careful than ever before.