This Bizarre Nascar Explosion Was Actually A Massive Tyre Failure

The cause of a strange explosion which struck Derrike Cope’s car in the Nascar Xfinity race at Watkins Glen on Saturday has been determined - it was actually a massive tyre failure. See the big plume of smoke erupting from the bonnet? It’s actually brake dust, and as you might have guessed from the severity of the bang, this isn’t an ordinary tyre failure.

Speaking to USA Today, Nascar vice president Elton Sawyer said that the failure was down to a broken spindle causing excessive heat in the tyre. Since Cope pulled over and slowed down, this restricted airflow, allowing the weakened tyre to “roast”.

“So he lost a bead, then you’ve got all the fabric in the side wall that is starting to deteriorate and as soon as the vehicle came to a stop you’ve got all that radiant heat that’s basically just sitting there, the soft point of the side wall is where it explodes.”

Nascar will look into the incident further to see if it’s something that can be avoided in the future. Fortunately, Cope was not injured the explosion.