“Literally the Dale Earnhardt angle”: NASCAR fans left shocked by new footage of brutal Erik Jones wreck at Talladega

The recently concluded GEICO 500 was held at the Talladega Superspeedway and witnessed a wreck-fest. Erik Jones suffered a big blow in the horrific crash in Lap 157 involving Bubba Wallace's #23 Toyota Camry, shortly after the two stages went smoothly under the green flag.

Amid the recent developments, new onboard footage of Jones' #43 Toyota has surfaced, unveiling the details of the gruesome crash. The video quickly gained traction and shocked the fans as it resembled the unforgettable crash of the 7x Cup Series champion, Dale Earnhardt.

Here is the video of the brutal crash that sent Erik Jones' car straight into the outside wall (via Andrew on X):

Dale Earnhardt was battling for contention and his eighth championship at the 2001 Daytona 500. In a bid to outmaneuver his rivals, Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader, Earnhardt made contact with Schrader's #36 car, which sent his #3 straight into the concrete wall on turn four. The impact of the crash was such that the legendary racer sadly sacrificed his life on the track.

Highlighting the similarities in the dashcam footage of Earnhardt's crash to that of Erik Jones'fans shared their thoughts on Sunday's incident. One fan shared a clip of the horrific Daytona International Speedway incident and wrote:

"It still hurts😭😭."

Another fan reminisced on 'The Intimidator's crash, commenting:

"That is literally the Earnhardt angle. Jesus."

One fan revealed instantly recalling the 2001 incident upon seeing the footage and wrote:

"Soon as I saw impact that's all I could think glad he's relatively ok."

This fan went deeper into the details of the crash and added:

"Close…. Dale was a little more square, it looks like he caught the right corner first. Thankfully"

One fan felt like they were riding with Jones at Talladega and commented:

"God the Pain in Erik’s voice is so painful to listen to it makes me feel like I was riding with him"

Another felt that the Legacy Motor Club driver was inches away from suffering the Dale Earnhardt-level mishap, writing:

"That’s the closest anyone has come to meeting Dale."

Erik Jones on the crash that "destroyed" his #43 Toyota and transferred him to a local hospital

On Lap 152 of the 500-mile run, seven Toyota Camrys pitted for refueling before the rest of the pack to gain an advantage over their rival manufacturers. Among those was Tyler Reddick's #45 Toyota which left the pits first and merely five laps later, the Japanese engine-powered cars were drafting behind each other.

Reddick led the seven-car file, followed by Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Ty Gibbs. While the pack ran super close to the front car's bumper, the #23 Toyota got a slight nudge from JHN's #42 Camry, which furthered into #43.

As a result, Wallace, and Erik Jones' day ended on Lap 157, with Denny Hamlin becoming a victim to the same. Jones was called to the infield care center but was later transferred to a local hospital as the crash was apparently more serious than expected.

Per the latest update, Jones has been discharged from the hospital and is at home now. Speaking on the incident that "destroyed the car," the LMC driver said (via Frontstretch on Youtube) [1.48]:

"Ended up pretty hard in the wall. It's unfortunate for us, ended our day and destroyed the car. Just didn't work out, we had to be aggressive with the strategy."