“They want to meet with me this weekend. But we were told this morning that it was the hardest one they have in their data in history,” that is what Elliott Sadler had to say about his horrible crash at the Pocono Raceway on August 1, 2010. That means it was harder than Kyle Petty’s 2003 crash at Bristol which, according to published reports, was the hardest at the time at more than 80 Gs (80 times the force of gravity). However, no such data is available for the Pocono crash. What happened?

Jimmie Johnson draft-bumped Kurt Busch, who was sent spinning sideways into the infield grass and hit the fence. Busch wasn’t the only driver to be collected in this wreck, as Elliott Sadler seemed to come out the worst. Sadler was spun by A. J. Allmendinger and his car went face-first into the inside wall at 160 miles per hour, at a nearly perpendicular angle. The entire front part of the No.19 Ford was torn apart. Even more scary, the engine was detached from the car and parts from it scattered all across the track. Sadler’s car went from a racing speed of 160 mph to about 20 mph in a braking distance of three feet. Debris from both crashes required a 30-minute red flag for cleanup.

However, the exact G-force data is not available for the Pocono crash. “We do not share those numbers except with the team and the folks at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska,” NASCAR had said in a statement back then. Not only that, but even no clear footage of Sadler’s crash has been ever seen. ESPN was the one who used to broadcast the races back then, but even they don’t seem to have a clear enough video of what transpired that day. Understandably, there’s a conspiracy among the racing community that NASCAR has deliberately sealed the actual footage of the violent crash. Now, a fan page named NRE Production is on the hunt for the unseen footage.

In their bid to try to get hold of the evidence, they have announced a $100 bounty. “I’m offering up $100 to anyone who can find this piece of NASCAR #lostmedia Elliott Sadler’s 2010 Pocono crash. We know that the footage exists, so let’s try and get it found. High-quality fan video/broadcast footage is what we’re looking for here.” 14 years after the crash, this has got the fans talking again. But is NASCAR really trying to cover this up? There are some facts that might make you think twice.

One explanation for the unavailability of the footage is a lack of camera angles for Sadler’s crash. The crash occurred in a blind spot on the track. Although almost every camera had a good view of Kurt Busch’s car, only one camera could capture Sadler’s impact, and even then, it was on the side of the screen and partially out of frame. In fact, Sadler himself spoke in favor of NASCAR.

“There’s a wreck on the backstretch. I slow down. My actual teammate (Likely A.J. Allmendinger) runs into me and hits me and pushes me across the grass, and I’m just sliding. I’m thinking ‘Okay, I’m just going to nose off this wall over here. It’s not going to hurt’, so I’m just bracing up a little bit. And, all of a sudden, when it hit, it hurt, and I’m like, ‘What the…God!’. I was not expecting that. I had no idea the fence made a ‘V’ with the earth behind it keeping it to where it wouldn’t give any. That hurt. I was bruised all over, black eyes…There is nothing about that wreck that was guarded or censored or anything from NASCAR,” he had said.

However, one astonishing factor about the crash was, Sadler got out of the car and walked away under his own, though he needed to lie down to get his breath again before taking the mandatory ambulance ride to the infield care center. He credited the HANS device (Head and Neck restraint), the carbon fiber seat designed by Hendrick Motorsports and new safety designs NASCAR implemented in the new car for protecting him.

“I’m very thankful for that,” Sadler had said. “I think 10 years ago in the aluminum seat and no HANS and having that same wreck we’d be maybe talking about something different now.” But he had issued a challenge to Pocono Raceway to bring track standards up to car standards. “This is 2010, not 1970,” Sadler had said. “We have a lot of knowledge now on SAFER barriers, things the tracks can do to help us in case we’re in a wreck.” Nevertheless, the reactions of the fans to the post made it clear that the incident was very much fresh in their memories.

NASCAR fans weigh in on the mystery of Elliott Sadler’s Pocono crash

This race fan who was present at the race believes that the area where Saddler crashed was indeed a blind spot. “I was at that race in the lower level of the grandstands. You’re right about not being able to see the backstretch well. The only chance anyone has of finding footage is if someone recorded it from the infield. Like you said, good luck finding that from someone in 2010.”

Meanwhile, replying to the offer of $100 to find the actual video footage was beyond this race fan. Now, there’s got to be more on the line given that we are talking about a mystery that has been kept under wraps for so long. Therefore replying to the social media post, another fan wrote, “Even if I knew I had this video stashed away on a VHS somewhere, I don’t think $100 would be enough for me to dust it off and pull it out and then work up the muster to have it all digitalized.”

On the flip side, Elliott Sadler’s wreck during the practice session in Michigan is what some of the fans were more interested in. Even Saddler confessed that NASCAR in fact had erased the footage of that freak crash where his race car was nose down in the air, above the catch fence. “I was actually higher than the catch fence. NASCAR calls me to their trailer, and we go in there, and they have a video of my wreck. And they say that’ll be the last time you ever see that video.” Saddler confessed this on Dale Jr. Download.

The crash from Pocono at least has the bits and pieces of footage, but for the 2000 Michigan practice crash, there is none. And going by Saddler’s confession, that wreck arguably would’ve been more egregious, which is why NASCAR had to put a lid on it. All of this combined has only got this race fan fascinated to know more about that particular incident. “Honestly, I’m more down for Sadler’s 2000 Michigan flip that was purported to go higher than the catch fence.”

There are multiple theories on why NASCAR refuses to reveal the video evidence from the Pocono crash. We have seen in recent years that they do not miss an opportunity to prompt flipping race cars on their social media handles. This was evident from Ryan Preece’s horrifying Daytona crash. So what’s so different about Saddler’s crash incident? Well, this fan somewhat seems to have an answer to this question. “Somebody within the @PoconoRaceway facility may have it. But I could also see that @NASCAR may want to keep this one in hiding for how violent it may be.”

What are your thoughts on this conspiracy theory, and do you genuinely believe that NASCAR is trying to cover up something big?