Major NASCAR Crash At Daytona Sends Engine Flying Toward The Stands

The Drive4COPD 300, the first race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season, was today.

It ended with a big crash during the final lap.

Twenty-year-old Kyle Larson was the driver of a car that went through the catch fence. The front end of the car was completely ripped off, and you can see the engine fly out toward the stands.

ESPN's Marty Smith reports that Larson says he's OK.

Pieces from the car, including a tire, ended up in the seats. Deadspin has the video of the crash and the tire in the stands (at the bottom of the article), which NASCAR has supposedly been trying to bury by removing multiple times from YouTube.

Tony Stewart won the race, but wasn't in the celebrating mood. His concern was for the other drivers.

"So as much as we want to celebrate right now and as much as this is a big deal to us, I'm more worried about the drivers and the fans that are in the stands right now because that was ... I could see it all in my mirror, and it didn't look good from where I was at," Stewart told the Associated Press.

Tomorrow is the Daytona 500.

[UPDATE] ESPN is reporting that 17 spectators were taken to area hospitals including two with "major" injuries, one of which needed surgery for "head trauma."

Here's the video (via ESPN). You get a good look at Larson's car and the engine embedded in the fence at the 0:45 mark...

Here's a screengrab:

And here's the engine:

And on this page there's an amateur video taken from the stands...