Rico Abreu crew member goes down hard from fuel-can hit
What should have been a routine pit stop went terribly wrong for a member of driver Rico Abreu's No. 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota team early in Sunday's Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
One crew member hit another hard in the back with a fuel can the stop was completed and Abreu began to pull away. The fuel cans weigh approximately 95 pounds when packed full with 12 gallons of fuel, and still weigh nearly 25 pounds when they're empty.
The impact from the can slamming into the crew member's back was enough to knock him hard to the ground. The good news is that he appeared to be fine after being helped up and examined by medical personnel who arrived quickly on the scene.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't go much better for Abreu.
He was running 11th in the race with 14 laps to go when he ran into the back of the No. 13 truck driven by Cameron Hayley, his ThorSport teammate, triggering a wreck that also collected the vehicle of Brett Moffitt.
Abreu's car sustained significant damage, ruining any hopes he had of salvaging a top-10 finish and also severely damaging Hayley's hope of a strong finish that he needed to help his chances of getting into the inaugural Truck Series Chase for the championship.
Although Hayley rallied to finish ninth, Abreu struggled home in 27th and said he felt awful about wrecking his teammate.
"I feel really bad that I hit Cameron," Abreu said. "I just wheel-hopped really bad there. It’s just part of road-course racing and it can get out of your control. ... I feel really bad for these ThorSport guys. I’m trying really hard and I just think at the end of the day I’m trying too hard."
