Tom Cruise avoids serious wreck on 'Top Gear'

Well if the movie thing stops working out (and, after the release of "Knight and Day,"you never know ...), at least Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz can fall back on race-car driving.

1. More Entertainment stories
   1. Autistic ballerina dances her way into hearts
      

      In a popular YouTube video, the beaming little ballerina dances an entire four-minute routine seemingly perfectly, matchin...

   2. Every on-screen drink in 'Mad Men' in 5 minutes
   3. See the 'Dancing' stars' most memorable moves
   4. Emmy's biggest snubs? Cranston, Hamm, more
   5. 'Toy Story' toys burn up in prank on mom

Cruise and Diaz tore up the track during a joint appearance on the BBC's "Top Gear" on Sunday, both zipping through the course in astounding time — with the "Mission: Impossible" star narrowly averting a potentially dangerous accident.

(Cruise's near-miss is about at the three-minute mark in the attached clip.)

To promote the U.K. launch of their action flick, the actors got behind the wheel of a Kia for a segment called "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" and attempted to break the course record held by Harry Potter star Rupert Grint.

Diaz, wearing her best game face and dropping her best F-bombs ("some of this is actually broadcastable," quipped host Jeremy Clarkson), went first and flew around the circuit, just edging Grint's time.

Photos: Easy riders — stars and bikes

Then came Cruise, who at the end of his ride drifted off the track and briefly went up on two wheels but managed to bring the car back down without killing himself.

Added bonus: He finished about a second ahead of Diaz and is the new course record-holder.

They don't call him the Top Gun for nothing.

So, was 'Knight & Day' a Cruise comeback, or setback?