An eight-car pileup late in the Sprint Cup Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 required a quick cleanup for the race to finish under green. One unlucky official picking up a piece of debris at Atlanta Motor Speedway today got caught tripping over his own feet on the live broadcast. Oops.
Here's the offending late-race crashfest, where Greg Biffle and Joe Nemechek make contact, which sets off a big ol' classic NASPILE of twisted metal and debris, The wreck collected eight cars in total, including Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer:
"The Big One" was somewhat expected by that point in the race, though.
Less expected was this poor fellow's wipe-out after he picked up a piece of debris from the track:
Ouuuuuuch.
Officials who risk their lives to clean up debris from the track are a needed and appreciated part of the race day experience, however, keep in mind that they aren't built to withstand impacts in quite the same way as the NASCAR race cars themselves.
I'll bet it left at least a nice, big bruise, anyway.
[H/T Deadspin for the GIF]