Ken Butler, III felt the wrath of the ticking time bomb otherwise known as Talladega Superspeedway on Friday. KBIII climbed an impressive 22 positions in only 12 laps when he was slammed hard into the outside by the No. 25, the first of many victims of a right-side tire explosion. KBIII was treated and released from infield care and scored in the 36th position for the ARCA RE/MAX 250.
“What a wild ride,” said Butler. “I am just so thankful that everyone was ok in that big wreck. The car was great and we were moving to the front fast. That is one of those wrecks where it was no one’s fault. The tire exploded and sent the 25 into our Aaron’s Lucky Dog Toyota. We slammed the wall and became a fireball. It’s so unfortunate because we had a really good car.”
During lap 12 of the ARCA RE/MAX 250, KBIII was on the outside of Brian Scott when the right rear tire of the No. 25 exploded, catapulting Scott into the No. 22 Aaron’s Lucky Dog Toyota and slamming Butler hard into the outside wall. The No. 22 quickly became engulfed with flames. KBIII climbed to safety as the car came to a halt, still heavily on fire. Suffering only minor burns on his hands, Butler’s day was over, sending the team home a disappointing 36th on the results sheet.
“The guys worked night and day on this car,” said Crew Chief Jonathan Davis. “It was a good car that drafted really well. Unfortunately some speedway cars don’t go well by themselves and this is one of them. The weekend went really well even though our qualifying effort didn’t show it. Superspeedways are so unpredictable and it is easy to get caught in a wreck as an innocent bystander. That’s what happened to us. We’re just glad KB is ok.”
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