This weekend, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway marked the ultimate NASCAR Cup Series race earlier than the start of the Playoffs, the place drivers will compete for a championship. It was additionally a race marred by some nasty wrecks for Ryan Blaney — who was speared into the surface wall — and Ryan Preece — who was despatched right into a spin that lasted for a full eight seconds. It begs the query: ought to NASCAR rethink superspeedway racing?
First got here Blaney’s wreck. Drivers Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell made contact, which resulted in a faucet to the rear of Blaney’s automotive that hooked him to the fitting. He made direct front-end contact with the wall in a crash that proceeded to wipe out a good portion of the sector. Blaney was capable of stroll away because of improvements like SAFER boundaries and HANS units, however some followers on social media had been fast to notice that the wreck was paying homage to the one which claimed the lifetime of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Blaney, against this, was capable of stroll away freely.
Later within the race, Ryan Preece was racing close to the entrance of the sector when he was bumped by one other automotive whereas drafting within the outdoors lane. His Ford spun into site visitors and clipped the grass from a sideways angle. It’s nonetheless somewhat unclear how precisely it occurred, however Preece’s automotive tipped sideways, which allowed air beneath the automotive all of sudden. The No. 41 was then launched into the air, flipping a surprising 10 instances for eight consecutive seconds earlier than it lastly got here to relaxation.
Preece was capable of go away the automotive below his personal energy and was taken to an area hospital for statement. As of this second, we all know he’s okay, however the full extent of his accidents haven’t been launched.
Of course, it’s totally potential to see these two Cup Series wrecks and are available away with the reverse conclusion, that NASCAR is safer than it’s ever been. That is, for instance, the takeaway by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, which lauds the truth that the Cup automobiles are safer than they’ve ever been as a result of two nasty crashes came about, however each drivers had been capable of stroll away comparatively unscathed.
That sort of angle, although, reeks of complacency. It’s unbelievable that such ferocious wrecks might occur — {that a} automotive might flip by means of the air a number of instances — with out a grievous damage to the driving force, however spectacular wrecks are usually not factor. We ought to take a second to understand the truth that drivers can emerge from such a wreck intact, however we shouldn’t wait round for the wreck that kills somebody or ends a profession. Combining a number of rows of drivers working nose-to-tail in scorching pursuit of an excellent common season end on a large race monitor is a recipe for catastrophe.
In 1992, Davey Allison was engaged in a equally nasty flip at Pocono, from which he walked away. Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s 1996 crash at Talladega resulted in a damaged collarbone and dislocated sternum; he too walked away, however with accidents that lingered for years. Looking again, it’s straightforward to see how fortunate we had been that these legendary drivers had been capable of maintain brutal impacts and proceed on with their careers — however we shouldn’t go on hoping that crashes like this could proceed into an period of newer, quicker automobiles, particularly after 2022 introduced with it so many security considerations relating to the introduction of NASCAR’s Next-Gen machines. Superspeedway racing is a trademark of the game, and we must always combat to maintain it; we simply want to make sure we’re doing our utmost to forestall catastrophe.
What it takes to handle these points I go away as much as NASCAR — however now could be the time for the collection to handle problems with security, earlier than it’s too late.
Source: jalopnik.com