Wrong-way Driver DUI Suspect Uses Wild Dale Earnhardt Ghost Defense

A Las Vegas man who is being accused of intentionally driving the wrong way down a highway and causing multiple crashes is using a wild defense that hinges on the man being told to do it by the ghost of Dale Earnhardt.

Daniel Asseff, 51, who faces charges ranging from attempted murder, DUI and battery with a deadly weapon for his actions on January 28, told a Las Vegas court Tuesday that the ghost of Dale Earnhardt ordered him to drive the wrong way on the freeway.

Why?

So Asseff could get the mayor's attention to bring NASCAR back to Las Vegas. The prosecution says Asseff was high on meth and heroin while he was driving the wrong way on I-215.

“That was for Dale Earnhardt Sr., the Intimidator. Told me to open that for racetrack for NASCAR and Indy car racing if approved by Mayor Goodman for twice a year," Asseff reportedly told the court. "They want that use that as a Grand Prix racetrack to open it wrong way backward.”

A quick check of Asseff's social media channels -- he goes by Danny Vegas on Facebook -- shows a subject who posted rambling diatribes and 10 bartending jobs in his bio.

Danny Asseff on Facebook

Wrong-way driver Daniel Asseff with the Ford station wagon he used in the wrong-way incident / Facebook

In a jailhouse interview Tuesday with KSNV, Asseff claims he was discharged from a mental health facility Friday just before he drove the wrong way down I-215.

"I just remember, I don't know. I was kind of going that way. And I couldn't change my direction. I was honking the horn and the bright lights on and I was wobbling back and forth to let people know I couldn't change the way I was going," Asseff said.