What happened to McKenna Haase in Knoxville? All you need to know about the scary crash

Sprint car ace McKenna Haase was involved in a scary crash during the Knoxville Nationals weekend on the FVP Hard Knox night on Friday, August 9. Haase walked away from the incident, but according to an update from her mother, she is still suffering from pain.

The best sprint car racers have gathered for the Knoxville Nationals this weekend in Iowa. Haase, a native of Des Moines and a two-time winner of the 360 sprint cars at Knoxville, was in the thick of the action until a setback during Friday's heat races derailed her weekend.

In the opening lap of Heat #1, Haase took a hard tumble into the Turn 2 wall after making contact with Terry McCarl, which brought out the red flag. Haase's #55 car got over the right rear wheel of McCarl's #24 car, which sent her straight into the wall.

After the hard contact, Haase's car flipped violently before landing upside down on the mangled chassis. She walked away from the incident with the help of the safety crew and remained conscious after the impact. Afterwards, she was taken to the hospital by an ambulance.

Take a look at the wreck in the below video:

Terry McCarl also made hard contact with the wall, damaging his front axle. Tanner Holmes went on to win Heat #1, with McCarl and McKenna Haase being classified last out of the 12 starters.

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McKenna Haase's mother provides health update after terrible crash

Kelly Ann Haase, mother of 27-year-old McKenna Haase, provided an update on her daughter's health after the scary accident at the Knoxville Nationals. According to Ann Haase's Facebook post, McKenna is still going through a lot of pain. The 27-year-old is experiencing pain in her chest, pneumothorax (collapsed lungs), sore body, and cuts on her mouth and tongue.

Ann Haase also shared that her daughter was to be transported to the trauma center at Des Moines, but since both centers in the city were fully occupied, she continues to be monitored at the Knoxville Hospital. She added that the racer's vitals are currently stable.

"Thank you to everyone who has reached out. Your prayers are all greatly appreciated. McKenna is currently in a lot of pain. She has chest pain, a pneumothorax in her lungs, ripped up mouth and tongue, very sore neck and body. She was to be transferred to Des Moines, but both trauma centers (Mercy and Methodist) are full. Knoxville Hospital is going to hold her here and continue to monitor the pneumothorax with x-ray and CT. We pray that they will not need to insert a chest tube. She is currently stable."

McKenna Haase also lost her phone at Knoxville Raceway on Friday night. Prayers for her swift recovery poured in from the wider racing community after the accident.