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Erik Jones hits staircase while driving NBC demo car at Charlotte
Erik Jones clipped a staircase while driving the NBC demonstration car for a segment for the network’s race coverage on Saturday at Charlotte.
Stairs are used at most every track at crossover gate points to let fans and officials get from the grandstands to the infield when the track is not in use and are — of course — always taken off the track before cars are allowed on it.
This unfortunate set of stairs met its demise when it was (accidentally?) left on the track for the segment with Jones and former driver and NBC analyst Jeff Burton.
Jones was going well over 100 MPH in the car and we certainly didn’t see the stairs at first as he approaches them off turn four because of their location across the painted start/finish line.
This is the second screwup that’s led to damaged cars for Charlotte Motor Speedway in as many days. The track admitted Friday that it had issues applying traction compound in turn four before practice. Both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch hit the wall significantly off the corner and Brad Keselowski brushed it while doing a drift.
And on Tuesday, a Toyota show car got hit by an SUV on a street near the NASCAR Hall of Fame dring a promotional event for the race.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
