Earnhardt's safety belt broken, NASCAR officials say

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ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (CNN) -- One of the safety belts race car driver Dale Earnhardt was wearing in the Daytona 500 broke, NASCAR officials said Friday, but it has not yet been determined whether this was a factor that led to his death when his car crashed.

"What we have found in investigating Dale Earnhardt's car from the Sunday accident is that there was a broken left lap belt -- the seat belt from the left side of the lap belts came apart," said Mike Helton, the president of NASCAR. "We don't know how, we know why, we don't know when yet. All we know is there was a broken belt."

Helton said the problem was discovered Sunday evening. He refused to identify the manufacturer of the safety belt or speculate whether its failure contributed to Earnhardt's death.

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