02-27-2007, 08:00 PM
Even if you do hate napscar
Ryan Newman's #12 team was able to avoid serious problems during its first pit stop on lap 9 at California Speedway when a lug nut off the right-rear wheel flew up and hit rear-tire changer Joe Piette Jr. in his left eye, knocking out his contact lens and leaving him without the vision in that eye. "I'm just glad Newman didn't come over the radio after he left the pits to ask if all the lug nuts were tight. Maybe I'm better at changing tires when I'm blind," Piette joked as he told the story to Penske teammates. "I have never had that happen to me. The lug nut didn't cut my eye, but it knocked out the contact lens. It was weird." The NASCAR official standing in the pit stall located Piette's contact and after washing it off, Piette returned it to its proper place and was ready to get back to work. "I literally got the lens washed off just before you came in for the second stop," Piette told Newman. When Piette was asked how he was doing on Monday, he replied, "I can definitely feel that I got hit in the eye, but other than a small bruise at the corner of my eye, you can't see anything. I can see just fine."(
Ryan Newman's #12 team was able to avoid serious problems during its first pit stop on lap 9 at California Speedway when a lug nut off the right-rear wheel flew up and hit rear-tire changer Joe Piette Jr. in his left eye, knocking out his contact lens and leaving him without the vision in that eye. "I'm just glad Newman didn't come over the radio after he left the pits to ask if all the lug nuts were tight. Maybe I'm better at changing tires when I'm blind," Piette joked as he told the story to Penske teammates. "I have never had that happen to me. The lug nut didn't cut my eye, but it knocked out the contact lens. It was weird." The NASCAR official standing in the pit stall located Piette's contact and after washing it off, Piette returned it to its proper place and was ready to get back to work. "I literally got the lens washed off just before you came in for the second stop," Piette told Newman. When Piette was asked how he was doing on Monday, he replied, "I can definitely feel that I got hit in the eye, but other than a small bruise at the corner of my eye, you can't see anything. I can see just fine."(
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