NASCAR Throwback: What Caused Elliott Sadler’s Crash at Michigan and Why Was the Footage Not Released?

There were a couple of moments in Elliott Sadler’s career when NASCAR did not release the footage of his crashes. One was at Pocono in 2010 and the other was at Michigan in 2000. Now the first one is not contentious. On an episode of The Dale Jr Download podcast, the former Cup Series driver said that there were not any cameras where he crashed so they could not pick it up. The more interesting matter is the Michigan crash which NASCAR had the footage of but refused to release to the public.

Speaking on the podcast, Sadler said that he heard a loud noise as he blew his right rear tire. As a result, his car was launched into the air and it could have been a disaster for the fans. It was during a practice session before the race. The driver said that the quarter panel was thrust out after the tire blew out.

Air under the outstretched panel caused to car to launch into the air and it was a car length higher than the catch fence. This is important because if a car flies over the catch fence, there can be danger for the spectators. These types of crashes are rare and since then, NASCAR has raised those fences by quite a lot.

“NASCAR calls me to the trailer. We go in there, and they have a video of my wreck. They show it to me, and they say, ‘That’ll be the last time you ever see that video because you’re higher than the catch fence, and we don’t want to just show that to everybody. Everybody don’t need to see that,” he said.

Some fans might not like NASCAR’s decision but it is understandable why they wanted to hide the footage at the time. There was a race the next day and something like that would have cancelled the entire event. There just wasn’t enough time to raise the catch fences high enough at the time. Crashes like these might be rare but that doesn’t mean they won’t happen.

One such incident took place with Kyle Larson, during an Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway during the 2013 season. A fan was hurt by flying pieces of debris and it took NASCAR seven years to settle with them (2017)