NASCAR racing is a dangerous sport; there are no two ways about it. Although stock car racing has seen some storied chapters in its history, it has its downsides too. The drivers are always on the edge when it comes to pushing the limit. And in the process, the fine line between risk-taking and life-threatening antics becomes blurry.

The NASCAR Cup Series has seen many fatalities, the most recent being Dale Earnhardt’s gut-wrenching crash at Daytona International Speedway. However, there were a few who were lucky to escape the clutches of death despite being involved in wild crashes and accidents. And Elliott Sadler certainly makes that list based on his near-death experience in a crash at Michigan International Speedway.

It wasn’t a race-related crash; rather this happened during the practice runs in 2000 when Sadler competed in the No. 21 Ford from Wood Brothers Racing. It is believed to be one of the most treacherous crashes in the history of stock car racing. Surprisingly, there’s no video footage of the crash to shed light on the severity of the incident. Going by Sadler’s words, he confirmed that NASCAR showed him the footage just once, and it’s been kept under wraps since.

“NASCAR calls me to their trailer, and they have the video of my wreck. They say that’d be the last time you’ll ever see that video. I was nose down, and I was higher than the whole catch fence; that’s how high I was.” Now it’s hard to know why NASCAR has withheld sharing the video footage of his crash. That isn’t the case nowadays, especially when Ryan Preece’s wreck at Daytona was well-documented and out in the public eye.

The fans, as always, suspected a foul play by NASCAR. In reaction to the teaser shared by Dirty Mo Media, fans wanted NASCAR to reveal the mystery behind Sadler’s horrifying crash.

Fans demand the release of the crash footage

The only available evidence of the crash was the in-car camera footage. It showed the car flipping on its nose, and the barrel rolled a couple of times. But that was it, as after that, the clip got disrupted. Sadler himself confirmed that he flipped 12 times in the air during the crash. Now that he has confirmed NASCAR did have the video of the accident, fans only had one demand, “RELEASE THE TAPE.”

It’s odd for NASCAR to intentionally withhold the release of the footage from the crash in Michigan. In recent history, there have been freak and violent crashes, and everything is out in the public eye. Raising a similar question, this fan stated, “I still think the reason why NASCAR hid or destroyed the footage was because it was too violent of a wreck for that time…but we seen worse wrecks now so nascar can be like hey here it is or why did they destroy the Footage.”

There was confusion regarding the crash as Elliott found himself in a similar situation in a wreck at Pocono. Clearing the air and confusion between the two incidents, a fan wrote, “It’s just weird to me why they wouldn’t release the videos of the wreck. Elliott was fine after it and they use cars barrel rolling and big hits on promo videos for every upcoming race. Although I think he’s talking about the footage of his Michigan practice crash and not the Pocono crash.”

A few of them saw a funny side to this situation. Now we all know how DC comics fans rallied for the release of the Snyder Cut version of the movie Justice League. Therefore, tabling a similar proposal, fans wrote, “RELEASE THE SADLER CUT.”

On the other hand, despite being an ardent NASCAR supporter, this fan somehow missed the whole plot and was confused to see people rambling about crash footage. “Why is there no footage of this wreck.. What is the controversy?? I have been a Nascar fan for a long time and can’t recall this..I must be getting old ..LOL.”

It’s difficult to see NASCAR releasing the tape after all these years. But it will be interesting to hear Elliott Sadler’s entire take when he talks about this crash in depth in the upcoming episode of Dale Jr Download.