NASCAR Cup Series

Two squirrels run onto track, meet different outcomes at Phoenix

Published Mar. 14, 2015 3:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

It was an eventful Friday the 13th for two squirrels at Phoenix International Raceway.

While one squirrel managed to avoid its demise by being removed from the track to a safe hiding place, a fellow rodent wasn't so fortunate several hours later.

Landon Cassill was driving during practice for Saturday's NASCAR XFINITY Series race when the second squirrel ran into the path of Cassill's car and came to an abrupt and unfortunate end.

Cassill later expressed his regrets about the fatal collision, which obviously couldn't be helped.

Hours before Cassill's unfortunate squirrel encounter, 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion and current Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick spotted the first squirrel while speaking in the PIR media center, which overlooks the frontstretch.

"We got a squirrel on the stretch!" Harvick told the room full of reporters. "Squirrel or cat. ... Looks like a squirrel," he said, making a not-so-subtle reference to last August's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway where an animal -- whose identity was a subject of much debate -- ran across the track in front of his car.

Harvick then added, "You know, this might end faster if they just let the cars keep going."

Thankfully, the squirrel brought on-track proceedings to a halt after being spotted by track safety workers -- whom coaxed the animal into a hole in the wall under the flagstand.