Missing Man ; NASCAR strives to understand, explain and cope with its loss.

NASCAR is not in the habit of retiring numbers. Witness: Never in 52 years has the Daytona Beach-based sanctioning body taken down a car number and kept it down. But until the week after Dale Earnhardt died, it had never been in the habit of even remotely placing blame for a death, either.

That changed the Friday morning of Dura Lube 400 weekend at the North Carolina Speedway. That's when NASCAR president Mike Helton and Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said a broken left-side lap belt may have contributed to Earnhardt's death in the Turn Four crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500. The seven-time champion and America's most popular racer died instantly at Daytona International Speedway.

The press briefing was unprecedented, given the spate of lawsuits almost certain to follow the death. (Teresa Earnhardt already has filed suit in Volusia County to prevent the medical examiner from releasing information about her husband's death.) Understandably, both Helton and Nelson chose their words carefully and avoided saying Earnhardt would be alive today if the belt had held. They wouldn't even confirm that it was made and distributed by Simpson Safety Products.

``We don't know why, we don't know how and we don't know when the belt broke, and we're not going to speculate on theories or address any judgments,'' Helton said. ``We will continue our investigation and try to come up with as many answers as possible. All we know conclusively is that the belt came apart. We're not going to speculate on what we think beyond what we conclusively know. It separated. It's in two pieces. We have a gazillion ideas and we've got to narrow that down as best we can.''

He wouldn't say whether the new belt (installed in the Richard Childress-owned car in November of 2000) was frayed or broken cleanly, but did say rescue workers didn't cut it at the scene. Nelson said the webbing was separated between the buckle and the left-side adjuster. Part of the belt remained attached to the roll cage, and the buckle that secured the five-point harness was still fastened when workers reached the scene.

It's said to be the first documented case of a broken seatbelt in 52 years of NASCAR racing. ``We've never seen this happen and we've talked to people in the business of producing lap belts who've never seen it,'' Nelson said. ``So in 52 years of Winston Cup racing, this is a first. It's fair to say the belt was `severely compromised.' We have experts in the field looking into it, trying to find out why.''

Bill Simpson, whose safety products are used in motorsports at every level, took great exception to NASCAR's claims. He issued a statement saying (in part): ``Having tested and produced seatbelts for the motorsports industry for more than 53 years, we have never seen a seatbelt come apart in the manner that occurred. Our seatbelts, when properly installed, won't fail. Specific installation instructions are included with each seatbelt we sell. This company has no responsibility with respect to what happened. None. My conscience is totally clear. I'm telling you, it has nothing to do with Simpson.''