Derek White in crash at NASCAR

NASCAR driver Derek White went into last weekend’s Craftsman Truck Series race, the EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with a new sponsor, JL Wholesale, on his #69 MBM Motorsports truck, looking to get a good result in his first start in New Hampshire since 2015.

Unfortunately for him, he left New Hampshire bruised and potentially in need of a new truck after a violent collision with the wall on lap 45 ended his weekend.

“I was doing about 130 miles per hour (about 210 KM/H) when I hit the wall, and the impact was 26G. It registers on the seat through the data,” said White.

He started the EJP175 in 35th place after another collision in practice prevented him from setting a qualifying time.

“I came around turn two and I just got out of the sticky part of the groove. I brushed it against the wall, and I had a lot of damage on the side of the truck,” said White.

They repaired that damage into Saturday morning, making the race. After a few early retirements from other drivers, White was running at the tail end of the field still on the lead lap, when something went very wrong with his truck.

“The gas pedal got stuck right to the floor, I tried to stop it but no luck, the gas pedal was binding on a bolt that was under the dash that we could not see. There was no way I would have been able to pull it with my foot, so I just hit the brakes and slid about 200 feet until the tires blew up,” said White.

White was able to get out of the truck by himself, but he said that he has badly bruised ribs as a result of the crash, and that puts his potential start on October 3 at the Charlotte Roval - a road course that combines the oval and an infield track at Charlotte Motor Speedway - in jeopardy.

“I think the truck is a total loss, so we need to find another truck and put it together within the next 10 days or so,” said White.

“There are lot of teams that have a lot of trucks for sale because they upgrade every year. I already found a few. I’m just working on pricing them and getting the newest and best ones for my budget.”

White finished 30th overall.

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