Almirola out of hospital after fracturing a vertebra in fiery crash

KANSAS CITY - NASCAR driver Aric Almirola has been released from the University of Kansas Medical Center a day after fracturing a vertebra during a fiery wreck at Kansas Speedway.

Almirola was trailing Joey Logano and Danica Patrick on Saturday night when they were sent into the wall in the first turn. Almirola plowed into Logano's car, the force of the impact lifting his No. 43 car into the air.

Safety crews removed the top of Almirola's car so they could remove him.

He was taken by helicopter to the hospital, conscious and alert the entire time, and Richard Petty Motorsports said Almirola had a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra.

He was returning home to Mooresville, North Carolina, and will follow up with doctors in Charlotte.