Xfinity Series driver Dick has close call at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON - As near-misses go, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Jamie Dick had one of the closest in recent memory on Saturday morning during practice for the 3M 250 at Iowa Speedway.

While making laps during the first practice of the weekend, Dick was struck by a piece of weighted lead that fell off the car of Ross Chastain. The lead went through Dick's windshield and struck his helmet before he really even knew what was happening.

'I'm fine. I didn't think it was as bad as it was until I got out of the car and looked at it,” Dick said. 'The other car, they didn't bolt the lead down well enough or put the cap on, I guess, and the spacer and lead came flying out.

'I think I dodged the spacer, but I couldn't dodge the lead. I didn't see the lead at all. I saw the spacer a couple seconds before that, but it's hard to tell what it is. I thought it was a brake duct hose, because they're shaped similar.”

Dick didn't have time to be scared or shocked, either, and didn't fully realize just how lucky he was until people started telling him how close of a call it was.

He remained upbeat and was able to laugh about the situation, though, and was eager to get back in the car for final practice and qualifying.

'I'm real lucky. I didn't think it could've been that bad until everyone started telling me it could've been worse,” Dick said. 'The laminated windshield that NASCAR implemented a year or so ago did its job and didn't break. So that really made my day a lot better.”

NASCAR pulled Dick's car off by itself in the Iowa Speedway garage area to inspect it closely, and briefly took Dick's helmet to inspect it as well.

He had a conversation with NASCAR officials about what happened, and also fielded apologies from Chastain and his car owner, Johnny Davis of JD Motorsports.

'They looked at it pretty closely and will look at it more closely when they get it back to Concord (N.C.) and the R&D Center,” Dick said. 'I'm sure (NASCAR) is talking to the other car involved in the incident, and it's up to them what they want to do.

'They apologized, both the driver and the car owner.”

The 3M 250 is Dick's first race back after being sidelined following the race at Phoenix International Raceway with a diabetes diagnosis.

As happy as he is to be back at the track, this season has fallen into the 'if it's not one thing, it's another,” category.

'It kind of seems how it always is for me - if you're not winning, something's going wrong,” Dick said with a laugh. 'Usually it's not something health-wise until recently. We try not to get too down on ourselves.

'I was a little rusty the first time out. But the second one I was having fun and back in the groove. Then the third one I was going out and didn't even get to make a lap before the (weight incident) happened.”

A few hours after the incident, Xfinity Series Director Wayne Auton addressed media about what happened, and lauded the safety innovations that prevented what happened from being any worse.

Auton said the laminate windshields that were made mandatory starting this season. The winshields are close to 1/2-inch thick, with a two layers of plexiglass-type material around laminate, which increased the thickness from 3/16 of a inch. Those winshields had been mandatory at tracks longer than one mile, but now are mandatory everywhere.

He said NASCAR has traditionally cracked down pretty hard on teams who have had weight come loose like that, and anticipates that to continue when NASCAR competition meetings are held on Tuesday.

'They'll (the winshields) will take a pretty good shot, as evident of what we saw today,” Auton said. 'Penalties are discussed on Tuesday, and we'll definitely be discussing that one Tuesday, but any time we've found weight coming out of racecars, especially on the race track, we've been pretty harsh about it. We have to be, because it's part of it for people up in the grandstands and these drivers in the racecars.

'We'll discuss it Tuesday at our normal competition meeting, and I'm pretty confident something will come out of that.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com