Derrike Cope suffered an unusual parts failure during Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International. What made this different was not so much that a part broke on Cope’s car, as malfunctions routinely occur, but the manner in which it failed.
NASCAR driver uninjured when car detonates during Xfinity Series race
Excessive heat caused a tire to violently explode, which severely damaged the front of Derrike Cope’s car.
Chris Trotman/Getty Images
As Cope’s No. 70 car came to a stop after limping around the 2.45-mile road course in the middle portion of the Zippo 200, something appeared to detonate underneath the hood. The 1990 Daytona 500 winner was uninjured and, like many, was taken aback by the violent explosion.
Never seen a car blow up like this.
— XFINITY Racing (@XFINITYRacing) August 6, 2016
Glad to see @DCopeRacing out and alright at #XFINITYSeries pic.twitter.com/dFXc6BBONj
“In 35 years of racing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that transpire before,” Cope told NBC Sports. “We were just trying to survive and get through this (race).
“I lost the brake pedal going into turn 1, and I knew something happened to a piston or whatever so I just went easy down there and started coming to a stop, and the whole thing just blew the hood off. I don’t know really what it was. The shocks were all intact and the tires were up, so I don’t know what exploded.”
NASCAR impounded the car to determine the cause of incident. On Sunday, NASCAR vice president of officiating and technical inspection Elton Sawyer said the blast happened due to excessive brake heat that was trapped within the car, which caused a tire to explode, according to NASCAR.com.
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