Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was a race that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would probably like to block out from memory.
Earnhardt crashed twice and ended up with a last-place finish (40th). It started when his car spun out 50 laps into the race, which he was able to recover from. Then, shortly after he returned, Carl Edwards’ tire blew which caused him to spin into Earnhardt’s car. It briefly caught on fire and the driver smartly called it quits after that.
But the craziest part of the race was when Earnhardt was under caution and his steering wheel, which was loose, came off in his hands! Amazingly, he was able to grab the steering column (until he could reattach the wheel) and steered with his hands.
.@DaleJr lost his steering wheel and amazingly drove with his hand. #Geico500 pic.twitter.com/YfWt8wdLMm
— XFINITY Racing (@XFINITYRacing) May 1, 2016
All in all, it was a tough day for Earnhardt, but driving without a steering wheel is quite a feat.