Two, near identical Nascar accidents took place at Michigan International Speedway this past weekend. Both saw the racecars flip upside down and slide almost the length of the back straight at the high-speed oval track.

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Opening Act

The first of the accidents took place in the Xfinity Series on Saturday evening. Kyle Sieg went for a wild ride on the final lap of the race that is the feeder series to the Nascar Cup Series. Sieg’s racecar was turned sideways on the back straight, caught wind and went over onto its roof. It slid for ages until it eventually caught the grass in-field where it came to a stop. Sieg seemed uninjured and emerged from the car under his own power.

The very same thing happened to Corey LaJoie a day later in the Cup Series. His Chevrolet was turned sideways at over 300 km/h. Once turned perpendicular, LaJoie was simply a passenger. His Camaro went up and over. The entire incident lasted for about 15 seconds, what must’ve felt like an eternity for the car’s helpless driver.

Nascars used to flip over regularly in years gone by. As a result they were fitted with strategically placed flaps that would open when facing the direction of wind to prevent them from going ‘belly up’. However the high speed nature of this incident rendered the flaps ineffective. LaJoie’s car slid almost the length of the back straight before coming to rest on its wheels.