(GRAHAM) -- A gas tank caught fire and exploded when a tractor-trailer hauling furniture ran into a quardrail Saturday morning state troopers said.  The truck ran off the right side of I-40 West/I-85 South in Graham around 6:20am when it struck the guard rail and ran along it for 263 feet.

According to WRAL.com, the truck's load of furniture was almost a total loss, and the wreck tossed debris across the highway.  A passerby stopped and helped the driver, George Arthur Hoyle Jr., who suffered only minor injuries, troopers said.

Three of five lanes, near Exit 148 to N.C. Highway 54, are expected to be closed until Saturday afternoon as crews clean the scene.  Sensors showed traffic backing up for about five miles.

That stretch of highway usually carries more than 90,000 vehicles a day. 

Crews are removing debris from the truck and putting it in a dump truck to be hauled away.  Once that's done, the tractor-trailer will have to be hauled away.

Hoyle was driving the truck for Illinois-based Super Service LLC from New Jersey to Florida.