Indianapolis ? Bill Simpson, the former owner of Simpson Performance Products, sued NASCAR on Wednesday, claiming it wrongly blamed his company’s seat belt for Dale Earnhardt’s death a year ago.

He said he would not have filed the suit had NASCAR apologized.

“It was not a money issue. It was just an apology,” said Simpson, who filed an $8.5 million defamation of character suit in Marion County Court four days before NASCAR’s biggest event, the Daytona 500.

“That’s what we tried to get. We went all day long. And that was not going to happen,” he said.

Now it’s too late, said attorney Robert Horn, who also is seeking an unspecified amount from NASCAR for damage to Simpson’s reputation. In a statement, NASCAR said: “The Bill Simpson lawsuit is totally without merit. We will vigorously defend ourselves against his false allegations.”

Earnhard was killed in a crash on the last lap of last year’s Daytona 500. NASCAR said a torn seat belt manufactured by Simpson Performance Products was connected with the fatality.