Spoiler Alert: Despite the elements, Daytona 500 finally finishes [w/video]

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It would seem Gaia herself did not want the 54th running of the Daytona 500 to take place. After being delayed more than 24 hours by water falling from the sky in the form of rain, fire threatened to end the race early with just 40 laps to go when Juan Pablo Montoya slammed his car into a jet dryer truck under caution. Watch the video of the incident after the jump.

The jet dry truck, which is basically a heavy duty pickup with a helicopter jet engine attached, burst into flames on impact, spilling hundreds of gallons of burning jet fuel and diesel onto the raceway. Fortunately, both Montoya and the driver of the jet dryer truck were not seriously hurt, but the burning fuel threatened to end the Daytona 500 after 160 laps.

Twitter had a field day with the incident. The account @NASCARJetDryer tweeted "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated..., #imaight!" Brad Keselowski tweeted his view of the fire from behind the wheel of his No. 2 Miller Light Dodge Charger on an iPhone, which he actually had with him in the car. Fortunately the entire field was parked under a red flag at the time. Our favorite tweet came from @SpeedSportLife, which commented on the direction Montoya took to hit the jet dryer truck: "See what happens NASCAR drivers turn right???"Continue reading Spoiler Alert: Despite the elements, Daytona 500 finally finishes [w/video]

Spoiler Alert: Despite the elements, Daytona 500 finally finishes [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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