The aftermath of Riley Herbst’s frightening crash at Talladega Superspeedway is drawing renewed attention, this time over how quickly NASCAR’s safety crews reached the driver.
New onboard footage from Brad Keselowski’s car has prompted questions about the response to Herbst’s violent impact during Sunday’s YellaWood 500. The video, reviewed and shared by NASCAR reporter Steven Taranto on Monday, Oct. 26, provides another perspective on the moments after Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota slammed into the outside wall.
The footage also offers important context about the timing of NASCAR’s response, although it does not capture every safety vehicle or worker at the scene.
New Footage Examines NASCAR’s Response to Riley Herbst’s Crash
Taranto reviewed Keselowski’s onboard camera to examine how long it took safety personnel to reach Herbst following the accident.
According to his review, approximately 50 seconds elapsed between the first visible safety vehicles deploying from the left side of the camera’s view and a safety worker reaching Herbst’s car.
That timeline is significant, but it comes with an important limitation: The footage does not establish exactly when NASCAR dispatched its crews or whether other personnel approached from outside the camera’s view.
“There’s about 50 seconds between when I see the first safety vehicles deploy from the left to when I see a safety worker run over to Riley’s car,” Taranto wrote on X.
He also acknowledged that he couldn’t see whether additional safety vehicles or workers approached from the opposite end of the track.
The footage has drawn attention amid broader questions about NASCAR’s handling of the accident, particularly as other drivers and teams expressed concern over the radio.
Team Radio Captures Concern Following Herbst’s Impact
Herbst’s crash was one of the most alarming moments of Sunday’s race, and the concern was immediately evident among those watching it unfold.
Taranto also shared radio audio from the No. 35 team, capturing its concern for Herbst and frustration over the response as safety personnel attended to Joey Logano’s overturned car elsewhere in the accident scene.
The circumstances presented NASCAR’s safety crews with a complicated situation. Multiple drivers were involved, Logano’s Ford had overturned, and Herbst had sustained a particularly violent impact.
Determining how personnel were deployed across the scene would require more than a single onboard camera.
Herbst was able to get out of his car, and it was reported that the driver had his left arm wrapped after the race but told USA Network he was OK.
There was also a subsequent update about his condition.
Denny Hamlin said Monday on “Actions Detrimental” that Herbst’s wrist was “not great” and that the driver had “some bumps and bruises.”
Hamlin added that Herbst would be evaluated during the week.
The update underscores why the immediate response to such accidents matters, even when a driver is initially able to exit the car.
What the Video Does and Doesn’t Establish
The onboard footage provides a useful opportunity to examine NASCAR’s safety procedures, but it would be premature to draw a definitive conclusion about the response time from the video alone.
Taranto himself acknowledged the limitations of the camera angle, explaining that he wanted to give the situation another look in fairness to everyone involved.
NASCAR’s safety crews are responsible for responding to multiple hazards during an accident, including damaged vehicles, potential injuries and ongoing traffic around the crash scene.
The key unanswered questions are when the response was initiated, how personnel were assigned to the different cars and whether additional responders reached Herbst outside the onboard camera’s view.
For now, the footage provides a reason to examine the response more closely, not a definitive finding that safety personnel failed to act quickly enough.
New VIDEO Raises Questions About NASCAR’s Response to Riley Herbst’s Talladega Crash