Daytona 500 Crash: Fire Erupts When Juan Pablo Montoya Wreck Ignites Jet Fuel (VIDEO)

BY MARK LONG, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Daytona 500 has been halted by a fiery explosion caused when Juan Pablo Montoya slammed into a jet dryer under caution.

It's the latest mess to hamper NASCAR's season-opening race.

Montoya was driving well behind the rest of the field when something on his car broke, and he started sliding out of control toward the truck, which holds 200 gallons of jet kerosene.

(UPDATE: Matt Kenseth won Monday's Daytona 500. Find a full recap of the race here.)

Montoya's No. 42 Chevrolet hammered the truck, setting off an explosion and sending fuel pouring onto the famed track.

Montoya got out unharmed, although he seemed to stagger around the infield grass. The driver of the truck had to be helped from the vehicle.

Dave Blaney was leading at the time of the wreck, followed by Landon Cassill, Tony Raines and David Gilliland. All of them are relative unknowns in the Sprint Cup Series.

The Daytona 500 was postponed more than 30 hours because of rain, rescheduled as a primetime event under the lights.

The delay came two years after the 500 was halted for hours because of a pesky pothole in turn two. That one damaged the track so much that officials moved up a scheduled repaving to the track.

The explosion and the eventual removal of the truck seemed to damage the track, gouging lines into the pavement.

Comments

[wrascil]

12:19 AM on 03/01/2012

Restrictor plate racing took a new LOW this weekend with the new nap-car radiator restrictor, But I must admit the first thing I thought was How did Michael Wallop-da-wall-thrup get on the track? Didn't he drive straight into the wall during the dual race. Seeing that live all I saw was the flames first, Then I saw another one of those go cart / nap-car prodigy drivers demolished cars go by. The only part that was not wrecked was the rear end but those kerosene fumes do make the track slick for a few laps when they use those jet dryers fortunately there was enough excuses from the booth that everyone just blew off the 3 hour delay but they were making excuses all weekend. From the damage I'd say his hands were covering his eyes,
I am afraid its going to be a loooooong season this year

[ae12wrangell]

10:13 PM on 02/29/2012

I had just stepped into the kitchen for a few moments. When I got back, the only thing I saw was a racecar lose control and crash into the truck with jet fuel. I mean - HOLY CRAP!! (I'd put in a different word, but...). So, for the 2 hours and 4 minutes it took to extiguish the fire, repair the track, dry the track, etc., that was all I saw. That was a first for Daytona, as well. Hopefully the last time there is 2 hour red flag.
But, imagine what would have happened if that area of track had been deemed unsafe? Yes, I know its all hindsight, but.... Longest 2 hours in racecar history

[Dave Harpe]

07:23 PM on 02/29/2012

There has been a lot of suppression of news video on the internet by the big media lately. Is this another part of their effort to maintain their monopoly on, and control of, news coverage?

[smokeedaclown]

02:59 PM on 02/29/2012

Ah oh better get Maaco

[ae12wrangell]

10:13 PM on 02/29/2012

And, fire insurance.

[SportsChump]

02:55 PM on 02/29/2012

It’s been a while since I’ve challenged your collective creativity with a caption contest but after a rainy Monday in Daytona, Juan Pablo Montoya’s run-in with 200 gallons of jet fuel gave me all the motivation I needed.

http://sportschump.net/2012/02/29/juan-pablo-montoya-wrecks-at-daytona-caption-contest/8575/

[emdman1959]

12:40 AM on 02/29/2012

To bad Montoya didn't get hurt worse, it was very wreckless of him to be going that fast under those conditions and look what happened. I think he should be susspended and sent packing back to where he came from.

[George Picard]

01:01 PM on 02/29/2012

YOu are clueless.

1st he was going fast to catch back up to the pack, this happens all the time.

2. His car had a major failure at just the wrong time, it was freaky timing.

[ae12wrangell]

10:15 PM on 02/29/2012

He was going fast to catch up, but isn't that illegal, especially since a yellow flag was out?

[sdave]

07:35 PM on 02/28/2012

Was Danica putting on her mascara again?

[THE MAD BOMBER]

04:07 PM on 02/28/2012

DANICA PATRICK DOES NOT BELONG IN NASCAR. SHE MAY HAVE THE DRIVING SKILLS, BUT NOT THE PHYSICAL STRENGTH NECESSARY FOR HANDLING ONE OF THOSE CARS.

[UnknownSolider]

10:31 PM on 02/28/2012

You sound really dumb right now. She doesn't have the strength to turn a steering wheel. You do know that women drive big ol tractor trailers over the road, some of them on Ice Roads

[George Picard]

01:02 PM on 02/29/2012

They have power steering how much strengh does that take?

[THE MAD BOMBER]

02:47 PM on 02/29/2012

SOLDIER & PICARD......NASCAR CARS DON'T HAVE POWER STEERING!!!!! THE TRUCKS DO!!!!

[Justgo4it]

03:41 PM on 02/28/2012

I don't watch this racing, my hubby's the fan, he fell asleep and I came out to shut off the tv and was about to shut it off when this happened, I was in shock seeing this happen. I'm still amazed he didn't get himself killed. shows how far they've come in protecting the drivers.

[teabagmetos]

03:39 PM on 02/28/2012

There is this misnomer about nascar being Redneck, but it become more affluent, and there are big money people who go. Both President Bushes took AF 1 to go.

[teabagmetos]

03:03 PM on 02/28/2012

Juan Pablo now has a Nascar nickname " The Flamer"

[badazzGTO]

02:48 PM on 02/28/2012

i watch the NHRA so explosions like that are normal except the cars don't crash into the track dryers.

[Barry Klusman]

01:28 PM on 02/28/2012

The bad thing is I hear is his insurance had just expired..

[dshutt86]

01:22 PM on 02/28/2012

Im not a fan myself I find it to be very boring and I just cant get interested in it enough to become a fan however people are very ignorant about it. It is alot more than just driving around in circles! Driving in traffic for hours going two hundred mph is obviously far from easy not to mention the strategy that is involved with the fuel and tires.

[teabagmetos]

02:06 PM on 02/28/2012

You Have to BE there !!! puts a football game to shame. Football is not much different from the stands as it is on TV, and Nascar can be pretty boring on TV, but from the stand its a whole new deal. There's nothing like being in the stands when 44 cars go rumbling by warming up, and then when the green flag is waved and they streak by in a thuderous roar, it gets the adrenaline pumping like no football game ever could, while each lap going by your watching your favorite guy pass the next car. The funny part is watching everyone standing there holding their beers and watching the heads all all turn from left to right kinda like "the wave" only a lot faster.

[goairforce]

02:54 PM on 02/28/2012

You did good describing a live race! There's also the sheer agony of watching your driver get crashed through no fault of his (or her!) own.
@dshutt86 -- Fav'd!

[dropthedh]

01:52 PM on 02/29/2012

Football is much better on TV as far as the NFL goes. Too many timeouts.

[RonH1]

12:57 PM on 02/28/2012

I have no idea why anyone would watch a bunch of cars going around in a circle, but I guess one clue is that they love this stuff in Red states. They probably blew that car up to get on the news. The race car industry is hitting bad times. Firery recks draw attention to a really dumb so-called sport.

[troika]

01:03 PM on 02/28/2012

Seems bad KARMA follows Romney.

[jwn7]

01:08 PM on 02/28/2012

Two more demos trying to make a race about politics....Lame

[Kevin Rayburn]

10:32 PM on 02/28/2012

for some reason i fail to see the point of your post, but then again i think alot of people have to POLITICALIZE everything.

[teabagmetos]

02:07 PM on 02/28/2012

You have to BE there !!