DOVER, Del. – Miles the Monster certainly left his mark on the ARCA Menards Series when it came to his Dover Motor Speedway home on Friday (April 26).
While Connor Zilisch went on to take another win in another different series, a massive crash at the halfway point was of higher concern to those watching.
On lap 76, Christian Rose lost a tire exiting turn 4 and slammed the wall hard, erupting in flames upon impact. Just behind him was Amber Balcaen, who had to make a split-second decision on where she wanted to go.
“It was either drive right into him or try to cut down and miss him,” Balcaen said after leaving the care center.
She chose the latter option, but in doing so lost control of her No. 22 and slammed the inside wall almost as hard as Rose did the outside wall.
The caution quickly came out, but as both drivers were slow to get out of their respective cars, the yellow flag was quickly exchanged for a red flag, with the pace car bringing the field to a halt on the backstretch.
Rose later said not only did he get the wind knocked out of him, but he was also breathing in things that burned his lungs, which is why he took a second to get out of his now-battered No. 32.
“We were having a decent run,” Rose said after leaving the care center. “That was the best we were after the (first race) break. It just went straight on me. I don’t know if we cut a tire down or something broke. But for only running 10 laps, I can’t imagine we had a tire go down.”
While Rose walked away under his own power after the crash, Balcaen was reliant on a stretcher to get her to the care center, with her left foot given the most attention. She was treated and released from the infield care center, but was ushered around on a golf cart with her left foot wrapped.
“We’re gonna check on it,” Balcaen said. “I’m gonna do everything in my power to be at Kansas (Speedway) race-ready.”
She was very adamant that she did not plan on missing any races in her full-time campaign for 2024 despite the setback.
“A lot happens really fast at this racetrack,” she said. “[…] I locked it down as soon as I could, and it ended up being a pretty hard hit.”
The race resumed a short-time later and ran the final 75 laps with only two incidents.
One involved Zilisch running into race…
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