You’ve probably seen the clip. A bright red race car loses its mind on the backstretch, veers right like it’s being pulled by a magnet, and slams into a massive truck carrying what looks like a jet engine. Then? Kaboom. A literal river of fire starts flowing down the 31-degree banking of Daytona International Speedway.
It looked like a Michael Bay movie, but it was just a rainy Monday night in 2012.
Honestly, the fire at Daytona Speedway is one of those "glitch in the matrix" moments that fans still talk about over beers fourteen years later. It wasn't just a crash; it was a bizarre sequence of mechanical failure and terrible timing that almost ended the biggest race of the year. People still blame Juan Pablo Montoya, the driver of that car, but the reality is way more complicated—and a lot more technical—than just "he hit a truck."
The Moment Everything Went Wrong
Let's set the stage. The 2012 Daytona 500 was already weird. It had been rained out on Sunday for the first time in history, so they were racing on a Monday night. Around lap 160, the caution flag came out for a different accident. Montoya, driving the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, felt a vibration. He pitted, the crew looked at it, and they sent him back out.
He was "hustling" to catch up to the back of the pack. Basically, he was doing about 100 mph—which feels like a crawl to these guys but is still highway speed—when something snapped.
A trailing arm (also called a truck arm) on his rear suspension broke.
Imagine you're driving your car and the rear axle suddenly decides it wants to steer itself. That’s what happened. The car basically developed "rear steer," and Montoya became a passenger in a 3,400-pound projectile. The car hooked right, and right there, sitting innocently against the wall, was a jet dryer.
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Why the Fire Was So Intense
Most people think race cars are the most dangerous thing on the track, but that night, the jet dryer was the real hazard. These machines are essentially Chevy Silverados with a massive Teledyne Continental J69 turbine engine bolted to the back. They use them to blow 1,400-degree air onto the track to dry it.
When Montoya hit the truck, it ruptured the fuel tank.
This wasn't regular gasoline. It was roughly 200 gallons of jet fuel (kerosene). It didn't just burn; it flowed. Because of the steep banking at Daytona, the burning fuel started running down the track like lava. It was surreal. You had safety workers trying to fight a fire that was literally moving toward them.
The Tide Secret Nobody Talks About
Once the fire was finally out, NASCAR faced a massive problem. Jet fuel is oily. You can't just spray it with water and call it a day, or the cars will spin out the second they hit that spot at 200 mph. They needed a heavy-duty degreaser, and they needed it fast.
So, they used laundry detergent.
Specifically, they used boxes and boxes of Tide. If you watch the old broadcast footage, you can see track workers scrubbing the asphalt with brooms and soapy bubbles. They actually sent people to the local Target and Walmart near the speedway to buy every box of Tide they had in stock. It sounds like a joke, but it’s the reason they were able to finish the race that night.
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Does the Track Still Have Scars?
Actually, yeah. The fire was so hot that it threatened to melt the asphalt. The track had just been repaved in 2011, and the heat was high enough to compromise the binders in the new surface. They had to use something called "Bondo"—a polyester resin—to patch the areas where the track surface had actually started to crumble from the heat.
Even years later, drivers would mention feeling a slight "bump" or a change in grip right there in Turn 3.
Recent Scares: 2025 and 2026
While the 2012 incident is the "big one," the fire at Daytona Speedway has popped up in the news more recently. In January 2025, during practice for the Rolex 24, a structure fire broke out in the "Yellow Garage" area near the Sunoco fueling station.
It sent a massive plume of black smoke over the infield, giving everyone 2012 flashbacks.
Thankfully, the Daytona Beach Fire Department jumped on it fast. Unlike the jet dryer incident, this was a building fire, likely caused by a malfunction in the fuel handling system or an electrical spark. No one was hurt, and they were back to racing in less than an hour.
Then, just a few weeks ago in early 2026, there was another minor scare involving a fuel storage tank during a testing session. It’s a reminder that when you’re dealing with thousands of gallons of high-octane fuel and 700-horsepower engines, fire is always just one mechanical failure away.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Montoya
Poor Juan Pablo Montoya. For years, he was the butt of every "jet dryer" joke on the internet. But if you look at the data, there was nothing he could have done.
- The Part Failure: The truck arm mount broke. This is a massive piece of steel. It’s not supposed to break.
- The Speed: He was catching the field under caution. This is standard procedure. If he hadn't been going that speed, he would have lost a lap and been out of contention.
- The Driver of the Truck: Duane Barnes was the man in the jet dryer. He actually survived the fireball and was released from the hospital that night. He and Montoya actually stayed in touch for a bit afterward.
Safety Changes That Stuck
NASCAR didn't just shrug this off. They changed the rules immediately.
- Protective Gear: Jet dryer operators now have to wear full fire suits and helmets. Before 2012, they were basically just wearing work clothes.
- Safety Buffer: You’ll notice now that when jet dryers are on the track, there is always a "buffer" car or a second pace car behind the last truck.
- The "Montoya Rule": Drivers are no longer allowed to "blast" around the track at high speeds to catch the pack in areas where track workers are present.
Lessons from the Daytona Flames
If you're ever at the track, take a look at the "World Center of Racing" and realize how much work goes into keeping it from burning down. The fire at Daytona Speedway taught the industry that even the cleanup crew needs protection.
If you want to see the aftermath yourself, you actually can. The "zombie" car—the remains of Montoya's Chevy—was eventually moved to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s famous "car graveyard" on his property in North Carolina. It sits there today, rusted and scorched, a permanent monument to the night Daytona turned into a literal ring of fire.
The next time you see a jet dryer out on the track during a rain delay, look at the truck behind it. That truck is there because of what happened to Montoya. Racing is dangerous, sure, but sometimes the most dangerous part isn't the racing itself—it's the stuff that happens when the yellow flag is flying.
To stay informed on current track safety, you can follow the official NASCAR and IMSA technical bulletins, which provide real-time updates on equipment changes and pit road fire suppression protocols. Keeping an eye on weather-related delays is also key, as that is when the most specialized equipment—and the highest risk of freak accidents—hits the pavement.