After NASCAR driver Austin Dillon's last-lap wreck on Sunday night at Daytona Int'l Speedway, sanctioning-body officials yesterday said that they "were very early in the process of deconstructing the accident and evaluating potential changes," according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio said, “We’re hard at work on that crash and sorting out what are the best options we have in front of us with technology and innovation to make things better. The work has already begun on that." Since '12, "nearly 40 fans -- some seriously -- have been injured at Daytona as a result of crashes near the end of races that sent vehicles into the fencing and debris into the grandstands." For the third time since '12, NASCAR finds itself "dealing with the aftermath of fans injured as a result of a wreck at its premier racing venue." Following driver Kyle Larson's '13 incident, DIS and several other tracks "reinforced their fencing." DIS President Joie Chitwood III said, "One of the elements of the project of 'Daytona Rising' was no longer having fans or individuals on ‘rim road’ and closing off the grandstands on the front row, so those were in the new sections, and that was what was in place, and I think it did a very good job." Utter notes more changes "could be on the horizon" following Dillon's wreck but some drivers question how many times incidents like that "have to take place." Driver Joey Logano: "This isn’t the first time that has happened here and it is just dumb that we allow it to happen more than once." Driver Denny Hamlin, who was in the middle of the group of cars where the wreck originated, said that removing fans from the danger zone "may be the only viable solution" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/7).
DILLON'S PICKLE: Dillon this morning appeared on NBC's "Today" and said NASCAR, during restrictor-plate racing, "probably could bring the speed down a little bit and get the same style of racing that we want to see out there for the fans." Dillon: "Obviously we don’t want cars getting in the air. So we’ll work hard to do that and NASCAR has the people around them to make the right calls to make everything better.” He added, "We like to see the tight racing, the pack type of racing. It’s cool for the fans to watch. It’s fun for our drivers to be a part of it, I think. The hardest part, though, you don’t need the speed where we catch air. So it’s a pretty tough decision to make. We signed up for this as drivers when we sign in to what we’re wanting to do, and it’s a part of our race" ("Today," NBC, 7/7). USA TODAY's Jeff Gluck notes even the prospect of reducing speeds "might not ensure cars remain on the ground." NASCAR's desire to "reduce speeds at the two high-banked superspeedways" -- DIS and Talladega Superspeedway -- "is partly why all of the crashes happen in the first place" (USA TODAY, 7/7). The Washington Post's Kevin Blackistone said, "I’ve just got to wonder, once again with NASCAR: Why are you doing restrictor-plate racing?" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 7/6).
EVERYTHING DID WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE...: Chitwood said that the fence "worked like it was supposed to" and he promised that the crash "would be thoroughly analyzed." He said, "We'll take this situation, we'll learn from it, we'll analyze it and we'll round up our engineering team and see if there's any additional things we can learn to get better the next time." In Daytona Beach, Dinah Voyles Pulver notes safety "has been a hot topic in NASCAR all season, since driver Kyle Busch suffered a broken leg and a broken foot" during the opening Xfinity Series race in February. Dillon's crash "added fuel to the fire" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/7). Fox' Larry McReynolds said of NASCAR, "They will study that car. They will study that catch fence, make adjustments if need be. But I just have to say, everything did its job. You can’t make knee-jerk reactions over everything, because the attraction of our sport: it’s fast, and it's dangerous” (“America’s Pregame,” FS1, 7/6). McReynolds added, "You will never make this sport completely risk-free. That's totally impossible. … NASCAR is fast racing, and it's a dangerous sport. If we take all that away, no longer is the attraction there” ("NASCAR Race Hub," FS1, 7/6).
...BUT IS THAT ENOUGH? In Daytona Beach, Ken Willis writes, "Let's please dispense with the company line that says 'the catch-fence did its job.'" Willis: "No, it didn't do its job. Well, unless the fence's sole job is to keep an airborne race car from raining 3,500 pounds of death upon an innocent swath of paying customers." To "glean the positives from any of this is to ignore something that shouldn't be ignored a moment longer: This is madness." Willis: "How long will they continue to invite utter disaster before utter disaster shuts them down?" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/7). In Richmond, Paul Woody writes, "This can’t continue." NASCAR fans "have been lucky to avoid serious injury in catch-fence incidents at Daytona and Talladega." Woody: "It doesn’t require an engineering degree to understand one obvious fix is required. Move fans out of harm’s way" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/7). In Charlotte, Scott Fowler writes, "Slow them down. And get the fans out of the way." That "should happen immediately at" DIS and Talladega. Today "is not a day for congratulations about Daytona’s catch fence doing its job." Today "is a day to figure out how to make racing better and safer." The simplest way to do that "is for NASCAR to lower the speeds at Daytona and Talladega with a rules package that restricts the cars’ ability to reach 200 mph" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/7).
WAKE-UP CALL: In Orlando, George Diaz writes someone "is going to die again at a NASCAR restrictor-plate race" unless something changes. NASCAR and DIS officials deserve "huge credit for securing both the car and the track," but it "comes down to one of those Russian roulette deals." Bad things "will happen when you put a cluster of cars inches from each other in a competitive scrum at speeds approaching 200 mph but also limit their ability to instantly accelerate away from threats" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/7). In Greensboro, Ed Hardin writes NASCAR "got lucky again," as Dillon's crash "could've been the end of racing as we know it." Eventually, big tracks "are going to have to do more," but it is "doubtful they can move the seats back far enough to ensure safety for everyone" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 7/7). Crew chief Chad Knaus said, “We need to try to do something to try to help these people at the racetrack, make sure we don’t have problems.” Knaus: "Whether that is adjusting the topography of the race track, whether that is adjusting the catch fences, the seating position of some of the fans. Whatever that is, we need to make sure we look really hard at it. History has a tendency to repeat itself, and we see this quite often” (“NASCAR Race Hub,” FS1, 7/6). USA TODAY's Brant James writes if Dillon's crash "doesn't dominate several conference calls between the newly formed driver council and NASCAR before the series races at Talladega in October, then drivers have failed themselves and resigned their own mortality to whether the science or fate or whatever they pray to when they race at a restrictor-plate track fails them next time" (USA TODAY, 7/7).
