derrick cope in the xfinity race yesterday at watkins glen

was it really the tires?

last i heard they dont know exactly. i think nascar took the car back to r&d to try to find out for sure though. i would think it was motor related though because it blew the hardest out the left front tire but the right front is the one that was off the rim. the force couldve blown out the other side but the motor shouldve absorbed most of that energy i would think. he said he had just lost the brakes though and was coasting it to a stop so idk maybe they just got so hot it melted the bead but its not very common for a blown tire to almost blow the entire front clip off.

usually when a front tire blows it just shreds the body covering the tire not exploding all under the hood like that. here is the only other close tire blow out i can remember

I wonder if ISIS will claim responsibility for the Derrick Cope car explosion.

apparently the brakes locked up and cause the heat to massively jump which ended up blowing the tires

the big black cloud you see is brake dust, the white part of it is i think oil

it wasnt the brakes he broke a spindle and that caused the heat buildup. too much heat with him going that slow and no airflow kept heating the tire up inflating it more until it finally blew. nascar figured out what happened and have returned his car to him.

yeah when I saw it I was like no fucking way that was a tire because there was SO MUCH black smoke, then I watched (I think it was Larson) blow the bust stop and come to a stop there, and when he stopped and the fans blew that brake dust out the sides, I was like, NOW it makes sense..

you should see when the tire change gets down there and hits the lugnuts taking them off. instant face full of brake dust.

I saw it a few times during the race. that's gotta be hell on the lungs.