Roadkills are always an unfortunate occurrence. When they occur at highly controlled venues like a NASCAR race track, they’re even more striking. Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry hit and obliterated a bird during this season’s race at the Talladega Superspeedway. Following him, Ty Dillon accidentally struck and killed a squirrel in Michigan last Sunday.
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The incident occurred when he brought his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Camaro into the pit road for repairs. He said on his team radio while leaving it, “I think I just murdered a damn squirrel getting into my pit box.” His crew confirmed the squirrel had not survived and Dillon muttered with sadness, “Bad timing, little buddy.”
The driver went on to finish his 15th race of the season in 24th place. With that, his streak of not finishing inside the top 10 continues. He is 30th on the points table, 344 points behind the leader, William Byron. Following the race at Michigan, NASCAR insiders have been expressing their condolences for the squirrel.
Veteran reporters Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi discussed this on The Teardown podcast. Gluck said, “It’s a tough loss to see something like that happen. RIP, man. I don’t know what his name was, Squirrely McSquirrel, Peanut. Ty Dillon, what a monster, Ty. How could you?” They continued to joke that PETA must be outraged with the sport.
When Josh Berry killed a bird at Talladega
During the Cup Series visit to Talladega earlier this season, one particular bird flew into the path of the speeding pack. Berry was racing in third place in his No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse when he hit the bird at 190 miles per hour. Fans watching the race on HBO MAX’s driver cam were able to see the accident immediately.
Berry pitted during the first caution — which came about for a crash involving Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch — for refueling and cleaning his car. Fortunately, there had been no damage to his Ford and he continued with his race.
Berry‘s crew chief, Miles Stanley, was regretful but aware that nothing could have been done about it. He told the press, “A lot of times when we come here for like first practice or qualifying and stuff, we’ll see birds flying out around the racetrack. So, it’s not a huge surprise that we ended up getting one on the windshield.”
While tragic and bizarre, these incidents serve as a grim reminder that even NASCAR’s controlled chaos can’t always steer clear of nature.
