TALLADEGA, Ala.—Well, this is about as scary a moment as you can imagine behind a wheel in a NASCAR race: during Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega, the steering wheel came off in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hands:

Sweet heaven. That's insane. Junior managed to steer the car by grabbing the steering column until he could reattach the wheel. It was reminiscent of a similar incident earlier this year at Phoenix, when Earnhardt's teammate Jimmie Johnson wrecked during qualifying when his own steering wheel popped loose.

The loose steering wheel marked the low point in an ugly day for Earnhardt, a day in which he suffered two major wrecks and ended his day early. Earnhardt spun on Lap 50 and wrecked hard enough to go to the garage, then returned to the track only to get taken out when Carl Edwards' tire blew on Lap 110. It was a frustrating afternoon for a driver projected as the race's odds-on favorite.

"Hell, I'm done," Earnhardt said after the second wreck. "I'm going home." And no one could blame him.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

