Ex-NASCAR driver jailed again hours after finishing sentence for high-speed chase

Ex-NASCAR driver back in jail hours after release

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former NASCAR driver was accused of attempted rape jail just hours after completing a two-week sentence for a high-speed chase with deputies.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department says James Edward Neal was jailed Monday for investigation of attempted rape and false imprisonment.

Neal allegedly went to the home of a woman and was arrested around 6 a.m. after deputies responded to a report of a man and woman fighting.

The 56-year-old San Clemente man complained of chest pains and was briefly hospitalized before being returned to jail. Bail was set at $1 million. It wasn’t immediately known if he had a lawyer.

The arrest came less than five hours after Neal, who was a NASCAR driver in Gardena in the early 1980s, completed his sentence for evading authorities and driving recklessly on May 17.