Juan Pablo Montoya broke new ground in the 51st Daytona 500, losing control of his car and slamming into the back of an emergency truck full of 200 gallons of jet fuel. The truck immediately exploded, creating a huge fireball and setting the track on fire for minutes until a cadre of emergency crews were able to put it out. The condition of the track is still in doubt and with the race past the halfway point, it could become official with Dave Blaney leading.
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Click the image below for an animated gif that captured the impact of Montoya's crash:
Montoya did walk away from the crash and the driver of the emergency vehicle did appear shaken up but was taken to the hospital. While it looked like Montoya lost control of his car, not everyone was sympathetic.
One driver just said: "Montoya is a f----- idiot! PARK HIM!"
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 28, 2012
We are still under a red flag as we await the condition of the race surface.
Some more gifs of the fire:
For updates on the Daytona 500 today, keep it locked to the official SB Nation StoryStream. For updates on the go, follow SB Nation Motorsports Editor Jeff Gluck on Twitter. For all things NASCAR, head over to the SB Nation NASCAR hub page.