NASCAR: Top-Five Wildest Moments In Daytona 500 History

This Track Is On Fire (2012)

There are good reasons to be remembered and bad reasons to be remembered. Unfortunately for former Sprint Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya, he will always be remembered as the driver who slammed into a jet dryer and set an entire turn of Daytona International Speedway on fire.

Montoya’s car then caught on fire and slipped down the banking of the track. The No. 42 machine was destroyed, but he was surprisingly unhurt and able to exit his car under his own power. As for jet dryer worker Duane Burns, he had to be assisted down the banking by officials and was later released from Halifax Medical Center.

Jet fuel from the jet engine dryer quickly spilled onto the track and then ignited when Terry Labonte drove across the puddle of fuel. The track then ignited into a huge wall of fire and took NASCAR officials quite some time to clean up the mess. The tracks racing surface also took a while to repair but NASCAR fought through the adversity and actually finished the race.

Whether you like Montoya as a driver or not, it’s pretty sad that this is the only thing NASCAR fans really remember about his tenure in the Sprint Cup Series. Not his chase berth, not his two race wins, not his dominance at the Brickyard 400, but the time he accidentally set Daytona International Speedway on fire.

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