WATCH: William Byron’s Car Catches Fire in Violent Crash at Kansas Speedway in 2018

Back in 2018, William Byron, Clint Bowyer, and Ryan Newman got involved in a scary accident at Kansas Speedway. With 14 laps left on the scoring pylon, Byron collided with Bowyer and went headfirst into the wall. The impact caused his car’s rear to go airborne and come crashing down on Ryan Newman’s hood.

Newman was actually an innocent victim in the whole incident. Fortunately, everyone was able to walk away from the incident, unscathed. The impact was so hard that it destroyed the hood of his car and it even caught fire. In the end, all three drivers were unable to continue as the damage was too severe.

What did the drivers say about the incident at Kansas Speedway?

The then-rookie driver later confirmed that he was alright after the crash. He revealed that he could not get the car to turn on the bottom and his car got sucked around at the last minute.

Byron said, “Just couldn’t rotate, couldn’t cut. Overall, we were trying to push some things there, just didn’t work out. We’re going to wherever’s next. Definitely, the hardest hit I’ve ever been in. Thankful to be walking, so it’s good.”

It is also worth noting that that crash brought out the red flag for some time. AJ Allmendinger broke down the incident, detail by detail. He observed that William Byron got a lot of air time, and he even praised the safety levels of the cars.

When the incident kicked off, the three of them went four-wide with Kevin Harvick. Allmendinger noted that the rookie was driving along the bottom of the track. Bowyer and Harvick were trying to make the most out of the restart at the time of the collision. Byron got a little loose and snapped into an unsuspecting Bowyer, while Harvick barely escaped.

Then, a startled Newman could only watch helplessly as Byron crashed into the wall and on his hood. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch was another lucky escapee, but Jamie McMurray also had nowhere to go and got tangled.

Now, two years later, Byron returns to the track, older and wiser. So, he will hope for a decent result and not a repeat of what happened that year.