W. MI locals eyewitness Daytona crash

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.(WOOD) - Two West Michigan residents witnessed a crash during the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday .

Debris from the 12-car wreck injured at least 28 fans in the stands.

Katie Leighton attended the race with her husband, mother and father, who are all from the Grand Rapids area. Leighton and her husband sat in the wheelchair section of the front row because of a broken ankle injury she suffered earlier.

Leighton said they were sitting 10 feet from the catch fence in her row. She said Kyle Larson's car hit the fence about 200 feet further down the track from where they were sitting.

"We did get a little bit of tiny debris, and very small fiber glass and whatnot kind of hitting us as one car was hitting the wall right in front of us, but we really lucked out," said Leighton.

Leighton said many people did not know that spectators were injured until later.

"They had announced at one point that all the drivers were fine. But when we were leaving we saw an ambulance leaving with its lights on, clearly in a hurry, and we all were saying that we thought all the drivers were OK. And then we overheard another fan say that it was some spectators injured, so that's the first we heard of any fans being injured," said Leighton.

Just before the end of the race, Larson's car went airborne on the final lap of a second-tier race and crashed through the barrier that separates cars from fans. Large pieces of debris, including a tire, sprayed into the upper and lower section of the stands.

The crash injured more than 30 people, raising more questions about fan safety at race tracks. NASCAR President Mike Helton said "most everybody" had been released from local hospitals, but there are a "few still being treated."

Grand Rapids resident Todd Bradford was also at the race. Bradford told 24 Hour News 8 that everyone scattered after the crash.

"There was a lot of debris, and I saw a big ball of flames, and it looked like a tire shot up over the fence and possibly hit the suites, the lower suites, so it was insane. I've never seen anything like that," said Bradford.

Leighton and Bradford both said they were thankful they were not injured from the crash.