Eight NASCAR Fans Injured After Severe Talladega Crash !

Everything went according to plan for Carl Edwards during yesterday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Unfortunately for the Roush Fenway driver, he was to end up in the fence separating the track from the grandstands, as Brad Keselowski had other plans.

Only yards to the finish line, the 25-year old driver made contact with Edwards' car – leading the race at the time – causing it to turn sideways. The Roush Fenway car became airborne in the process, and was immediately hit afterwards by Ryan Newman's Chevrolet, being projected into the catch fence.

Although the car didn't make it into the grandstand area, no less than 8 people were confirmed injured because of the flying debris from the incident. According to NASCAR officials, none of the 8 fans were severely injured, with 6 of them being already released from hospital and the other being susceptible of minor fractures.

“After the incident that occurred on the last lap, we are treating approximately eight patients from injuries received from flying debris; the injuries appear to be minor and non life-threatening. One female patient is being transported by air, because of traffic, for further evaluation and treatment,” said the track's medical director Dr Bobby Lewis.

The women in question is believed to have sustained some facial injuries, being the most affected fan after the incident.

The race was eventually won by Keselowski, who was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman at the chequered flag. Edwards, who didn't sustain any injuries after the collision, later congratulated Keselowski for his maneuver on the final yards of the race. He did, however, point out that NASCAR needs to rethink their strategy when talking about drivers' safety.

“I saw him go high. I went high. He goes low right here and I didn't realise he got that far, so I went low to block a little bit and he was already there, so I turned around backwards. At this point I'm thinking, 'Boy, I wish this was made out of liquid gel material,' and then I'm very fortunate we hit the wall in a way it didn't crush my roll cage down on my neck because that would have been a lot worse,” said Edwards.

“NASCAR just puts us in this box. Brad did a great job. Congratulations to him on the win, but they put us in this box and we'll race like this until we kill somebody and then they'll change it,” added the Roush Fenway driver.