A Chevrolet SS caught fire this weekend while acting as the pace car at the Sprint Unlimited race at Daytona.
Flames shot out from the safety car's trunk while it was driving the speedway, Autoblog.com reported.
Pace car driver Brett Bodine, a former NASCAR race winner, pulled the vehicle over into the infield, where he and his co-pilot escaped the car unharmed.
A standby vehicle, also a Chevy SS, was brought out to be the new pace car.
Chevrolet is investigating the unusual incident to assess the fire in the trunk. The pace vehicle has an auxiliary electrical kit in its trunk that operates the car's caution lights, the carmaker told The Associated Press. But Chevrolet hasn't linked the kit to the fire.
The Chevy SS fire happened right before the third leg of the Sprint Unlimited race.
"I just saw the whole back of the car was on fire. I thought it was a race car," 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski told the AP. "Someone said it was the pace car. I just couldn't help but start laughing."
A car participating in the race would be more likely to catch fire, but a safety car going up in smoke is almost unheard of.
"We have a caution for the caution car!" cup driver Clint Bowyer told the AP. "Burn the pace car up! I have never seen anything (like this). It's a full moon night."
Race winner and Toyota driver Denny Hamlin had another take.
"Should have been driving a Camry," he told the AP.
Prior to the incident, General Motors had already had a difficult week, contending with an 800,000-vehicle North American recall and a car-swallowing sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky.
But at least Austin Dillon drove the No. 3 Chevrolet on Sunday to secure the No. 1 spot going into the 56th Daytona 500.
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