NASCAR: What did Ty Dillon hit? Piece of debris likely identified

The mysterious piece of debris that Ty Dillon hit during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway has likely been identified.

On the 134th lap of the 200-lap NASCAR Cup Series race, the Consumers Energy 400, at Michigan International Speedway, this past Sunday, Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon, who was two laps down, was speeding down the back straightaway of the track when he struck a piece of debris, which went through his #13 Chevrolet and disintegrated upon doing so.

This impact sent Dillon into the turn three wall of the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Michigan International Speedway oval in Brooklyn, Michigan, and a long cleanup period ensued.

Here is a video of this incident.

It was not clear what this piece of debris was, especially since it was completely destroyed after Dillon’s car ran over it, but the 26-year-old Lewisville, North Carolina native made an educated guess about what it could have been.

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Here is what Dillon had to say about the matter, according to Yahoo Sports.

"“It was either a battery or a chunk of lead, which is really unfortunate. When you’re going that fast, you don’t realize until you hit something and it goes through your oil cooler and you have no control of your car.”"

Here is what NASCAR chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell had to say about the matter, according to Yahoo Sports.

"“We’ve got more video than we’ve ever had in the past. We could not determine as of Sunday when I left the track where that came from for sure. But we’re going to continue to look into that and try and pin point it. Not something that you want to see. It not only became a safety deal, but it ruined a driver’s day as well. We’re going to get to the bottom of it and follow-up and see if there’s anything we can do to avoid that going forward.”"

Dillon also stated that he wanted whoever the piece belonged to to own up to it. Now we might know whose piece it was.

Right around the time when Dillon hit this piece of debris, an interesting conversation took place between Timmy Hill, the driver of the #66 MBM Motorsports Toyota, and his crew chief, Robert Scott over the radio.

Here is this conversation and video of a piece of debris emerging from Hill’s car on the back straightaway of the track.

Here is what was said during this conversation.

"Hill: “I’ve lost power here…”Scott: “Power?”Hill: “Dash is dead, dash is dead. I need you play with the switch, must be the switch,”.Scott: “It’s the battery. Is the battery there?”Hill: “It’s the dash, it has to be the dash, man.”Scott: “It’s the battery. The battery is gone.”Hill: “The battery’s gone?”"

With all things considered, it seems clear that the piece of debris that Dillon hit was the battery from Hill’s car. What will NASCAR do to avoid something like this from happening again in the future?

Do you believe that it was the battery from Timmy Hill’s #66 Toyota that Ty Dillon’s #13 Chevrolet ran over, causing his race to end a few seconds later in the turn three wall? Are there any other real possibilities at this point?