Part-time NASCAR driver Marco Andretti gave out a light-hearted reaction to his recent Truck Series incident at COTA.
Part-time Roper Racing driver Marco Andretti experienced a rare incident during the NASCAR Truck Series XPEL 250 race at Circuit of the Americas, where his No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado's back rear housing completely fell off. The incident effectively brought his night to a premature end.
The incident took place at Turn 11 as Andretti spun and registered a DNF in the fourth NASCAR race of his career.
As fans buzzed with discussions of the bizarre incident on social media handles, Andretti himself took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to react to a fan meme.
Referring to the COTA incident, a user shared a meme with the rest of Andretti's No. 4 car being tagged as "Marco" and the separated rear axle being tagged "polo". Reacting to the post, Andretti wrote:
"🤣🤣🤣The internet is undefeated"
Meanwhile, journalist Dustin Long confirmed that Marco Andretti's No. 4 team will not receive any penalties for the incident that took place at COTA. This comes after NASCAR levied a total of 40 track penalties on drivers across all the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series races during the weekend at COTA in Austin, Texas.
Marco Andretti on what he felt before his truck's rear end came off
In an interview with Frontstretch following the race, Andretti expressed his frustrations with the events that transpired. When asked what he felt before the incident, he revealed:
"Just big vibrations through brake pedal throttle. Acceleration, brake, just huge vibrations. We're limping around it in the second gear.
He added:
"I would say, I'm done with these character builders. I think my character is built at this point and we're ready for a straightforward weekend. I haven't been able to fight yet this season and it's getting little frustrating."
"I've never seen that happen," said Andretti. "I'm happy. It didn't happen at like, speed speed. That would have been pretty bad."
This was Marco Andretti's first Truck Series race of the season. The 37-year-old driver was officially allotted a 31st-place finish following his DNF.
Andretti, who won the SRX Championship in 2022, has also competed in two races in the ARCA Menards Series this season. Driving for Cook Racing Technologies, he has a 25th-place finish in the ARCA season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and a 21st-place finish in Phoenix.