Amanda Busick was walking along the back of pit road at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday when a runaway pit cart weighed at about 4,000 pounds barreled down a hill toward her after the NASCAR Truck Series qualifier. Donovan Williams jumped in front of her and put his body between Busick and the cart, and both were pushed with it before the scene came to a stop.
Busick later said Williams “saved my life,” and the weight of that moment was clear in the injuries that followed. She was evaluated and released from the on-site care center with a hyperextended knee, a sore shoulder and cuts and bruises, while Williams was hospitalized with minor injuries after taking the hit in her place. He was working as a tire changer for Spire Motorsports’ Truck team even though he is a Hendrick Motorsports pit crew member and former UConn football player.
The collision happened in less than a second, Busick said, describing how she could see the cart coming and see Williams trying to brace it before the pair were carried five to 10 feet. She said the whole thing felt like slow motion and real time at once. Fox Sports wanted her to use the rest of the day to recover, but she insisted on covering the Truck race later that night.
The Dover accident came after the qualifier ended, when pit lane traffic was thinning but people were still moving around the track. Williams, who is 6-foot-3, spoke Saturday about how quickly the moment unfolded and said he was just reacting, hoping for the best. He also said the incident was traumatic and one of the scariest moments of his life.
Williams was released from the hospital Friday night after doctors said all X-rays were negative. He suffered a laceration to his right buttock and severe road rash to his right hand, but said he expected a full recovery. Busick returned to work that night, a decision that fit the same instinct that keeps pit reporters on their feet even when the day turns dangerous, the kind of work Fox Sports also leans on during major events such as its 2025 League Women Grand Final coverage, its look ahead to the FIFA World Cup 2026 and its after-hours show plans tied to James Corden.
For Dover, the lasting image is not the cart or the chaos but the split-second choice Williams made when a 4,000-pound machine came loose. It is the kind of instinct that can turn a likely tragedy into a story of survival, even if both people involved still had to spend the rest of the weekend living with the impact.
