VIDEO: Pace Car Crashes Into Pit Road Barrels Before Stage 2 at Phoenix

Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix was put under the red flag momentarily, after the pace car crashed into the sand barrels at the blunt end of pit road.

The pace car has crashed into the sand barrels at the beginning of pit road, just before the start of Stage #2 in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, / Screenshot Taken from NBC Broadcast

That's definitely a new one...

In Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, the second incident of the afternoon didn't come from one of the 40 drivers competing in the event, but rather, the driver who is supposed to safely pacing the field.

As the field was coming to take the green flag in the second stage, the pace car driver slightly missed his mark, turning in too late to make it onto pit road. The turn-in was slightly too sharp, and the driver of the Toyota Camry XSE pace car lost control, sliding directly into the sand barrels that sit at the blunt of the pit road wall.

HAVE YOU EVER!?

The pace car just CRASHED into the sand barrels at the entrance of pit road!

The red flag is out.#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/r8EgAnhPSQ

— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) November 10, 2024

Fortunately, the pace car driver was able to avoid contact with race-leader Chase Elliott, and the contact with the barrels didn't severely damage the pace car, or the pit road barrels. In the aftermath of the incident, NASCAR elected to roll out the backup pace car, which will lead the field under caution for the remaining laps in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.