It was a frightening wreck at 170 miles an hour! The car exploded in flames and tumbled over and over and over again. It seemed that there could be no way the driver could make it out alive.
But then, incredibly, the driver emerged from his wrecked car, waved to the fans, and walked away.
"I feel very blessed and thankful that I was able [to walk away]," said 23-year-old NASCAR rookie Michael McDowell, who feels lucky to be alive. As the car rolled over and over, he told INSIDE EDITION he thought it would never end: "After the first few times I thought, 'Is this thing ever gonna stop wrecking?' It just felt like it was happening forever."
Watching from the pit lane was his terrified wife Jaime.
"When he first hit the wall my stomach dropped, but when I saw him start flipping, my heart stopped," Jaime told INSIDE EDITION.
The fiery wreck brought to mind a similar crash from 2001 that claimed the life of racing legend Dale Earnhardt.
It was lessons learned from that accident that saved McDowell's life. He was wearing a specially designed helmet with a built-in shoulder harness that protected his head. Without it, the rookie's first season could have been his last.
"Right there I was the test dummy for NASCAR, and I definitely don't want to do that again," said McDowell.
Remarkably McDowell came out of it with only a pair of bruised ankles. Undeterred, he actually climbed into a back-up car and completed the race.
"I want to get noticed for winning races, not having big crashes," McDowell said.