Death of Dale Earnhardt - Circumstances of Earnhardt's Death - Events of The Race - The Crash

The Crash

The accident began in turn 4, when Marlin came into contact with Earnhardt's left rear bumper. Earnhardt veered onto the flat apron, and while trying to correct this at high speed, he turned sharply to the right and shot back up the banking, right into Schrader's path. When Schrader made contact, Earnhardt's car impacted the wall at an estimated speed of 155 to 160 mph (249 to 260 km/h). The right-rear wheel assembly on Earnhardt's car broke off, his passenger-door window blew out, and the hood pins severed, causing the hood to flap open and slam against the windshield, as Schrader pushed Earnhardt down the track. No other drivers impacted Earnhardt after he hit the wall, as Schrader was the only one in the vicinity and the cars that were traveling behind them were able to make it past without incident.

As Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. raced to the finish line, Earnhardt, Sr. and Schrader slid off the banking into the infield grass near the exit of Turn 4, and Earnhardt's right wheel came off. Despite the heavy damage to the car, to outside observers, the crash looked relatively minor compared to the lap 173 pileup - and several of the cars involved in that accident (such as Tony Stewart and Ward Burton) had taken harder hits than Earnhardt took in his last lap crash.

After the cars came to rest in the grass, Schrader, who received minor injuries, climbed out of his car and went to check on Earnhardt, but immediately jumped back and began to wave frantically for paramedics.

The checkered flag was thrown after the accident. Waltrip won the race, with Earnhardt, Jr. finishing behind him. Wallace finished third while Marlin came across seventh, and Earnhardt and Schrader were credited with twelfth and thirteenth places despite not finishing the race. After crossing the finish line, Earnhardt, Jr. got out of his car and rushed to his father.