“Wild Way to Make a Driver Announcement” – NASCAR Community Reacts as Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Team Escapes Scary Incident

Earlier, the JR Motorsports team suffered a massive scare for their workshop. As it turned out, the city of Mooresville, North Carolina, where the shop is located, faced a massive storm. According to CCTV footage, a gigantic bolt of lightning happened to strike the gate at the Dale Earnhardt Jr-owned team’s headquarters. That triggered a massive spark, and fortunately, nobody was around at the time of the incident.

Later on, they posted another angle of the frightening incident on social media, showing just how spectacular it was. Naturally, many in the NASCAR community reacted to the close call from the Xfinity Series team. Chief among them were the Twitter handles of fellow NASCAR teams from the Cup Series, and racing drivers. Some people expressed their concerns, as lightning strikes can be pretty scary, but others were cracking jokes about the entire scene.

READ MORE: “A Boy Can Dream”: After Major Setback, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Fans Unite to Manifest Fan-Favorite’s Return to NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports

How did fans react to the Dale Earnhardt Jr-owned team’s close shave?

The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team kicked off the jokes, with a replay of the clip. However, they added a voiceover of Dale Earnhardt Jr commentating over a random NASCAR wreck. Needless to say, listening to the clip without context, it would not have seemed out of place. Meanwhile, the Petty GMS Motorsports team joked that the organization went a little over the top with its driver announcement.

IndyCar driver Conor Daly innocently asked whether former NFL quarterback Drew Brees was there. This was a cheeky reference to an incident where Brees appeared to get struck by lightning. Unfortunately, he did not become The Flash, but the whole thing turned out to be fake. Ex-NASCAR driver JJ Yeley also joked that the scene looked like the deception leader, Megatron, getting the All Spark. On the other hand, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kyle Weatherman seemed pretty stunned, if his own tweet was any indication.

Some people offered advice, like adding lightning rods in the area. This would be incredibly useful in protecting the building. When fans witnessed the other video, though, they are all pretty stunned. Some of them even wondered if it was the same video with a different angle or a second lightning strike. Finally, a few people joked that the Norse God/Marvel Comics character Thor was in the area.

WATCH THIS STORY: Dale Earnhardt Jr’s $14 Million Dream NASCAR Project Sees Major Upgrades Before All-Important Event