NASCAR Meets with Drivers Over Next Gen Safety

On Saturday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR held a meeting with Cup Series drivers to talk about safety issues concerning the Next Gen car.

The meeting, which approximately took 75 minutes, focused on planned modifications for the car. Particularly, it discussed a rigid rear clip that could have led to the recent sidelining of Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman due to symptoms similar to concussion.

Earlier in the week, a crash test was conducted in Ohio. The results of this test will lead to the production of an updated rear clip, bumper structure, and center clip before the next season. League president Steve Phelps and John Patalak, the managing director of safety engineering, represented NASCAR in the meeting.

Brad Keselowski, who is both the 2012 Cup Series champion and currently a team co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, expressed his anticipation for ‘some really good stuff coming down the pipeline’ to advance the Cup Series in terms of safety.

Drivers reported that the dialogue was beneficial, but intense, with Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick reportedly taking the lead in representing the driver’s viewpoint. Over the past few months, they have been among the most critical.

“Everyone voiced their opinions,” said Keselowski. “Perhaps it was somewhat like Festivus. But that’s fine, we sometimes need that.”

Christopher Bell, a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, stated that only two slides into NASCAR’s presentation, the majority of the proceedings were consumed by conversation.

“Bell stated, “I believe they had many more slides to show us, but our open conversation consumed most of the time. They did show us the crash data from Wednesday and it seemed to be better for the driver.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 champion, stepped out of his usual reserved demeanor last weekend at Talladega to demand car changes. He stated that he heard much of what he desired from the meeting.

“Elliott spoke up, “I believe they comprehend the situation. They’ve been extremely transparent about their efforts and intentions to help, which puts me at ease. I wish we could’ve had this conversation a bit earlier. But, no worries, we’ve had it now, and I’m grateful for it. I sense a direction and I believe it’s positive. Let’s work on improving it.”

The main safety challenge with the new car is its greater rigidity, causing it to not dissipate energy throughout the vehicle. As a consequence, the driver absorbs most of the collision impact, leading to a rise in injuries this season. Additionally, Cody Shane Ware is not racing this weekend at the Roval because of an ankle injury he got in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We simply aim for the car to absorb more of the impact, so we feel less of it inside,” said Bell. “When you observe crashes from the outside, it appears as though nothing is happening. However, it seems our bodies are taking the brunt of the impact rather than the car. We just want the car to play a more significant role in absorbing the impact, so we don’t have to.”

Our current position is due to the car being much stiffer and more solid compared to the car from last year.

The recent crash test yielded rear impact numbers that, while less severe than earlier in this season, were still worse than those of the car’s previous generation.

Kyle Larson, the champion of the 2021 Cup Series, expressed his understanding towards NASCAR’s difficulty in implementing changes without drastically redesigning the rear of the car, a modification that Hamlin had suggested the previous weekend.

“They’re constrained because the back of this car is considerably shorter than the last one,” Larson stated. “They had other considerations like avoiding intrusion and ensuring the fuel cell remains intact. That’s the kind of box they’re in.”

NASCAR has expressed its willingness to reconvene with the drivers on Sunday morning to review the rest of the presentation and continue the discussion.

Joey Logano, the champion of the 2018 Cup Series, expressed his disappointment that drivers had to resort to the media to compel NASCAR to start sincere communication with them. Drivers often complain that they are not included in the dialogue between team owners and NASCAR.

Keselowski and Hamlin, who are driver-owners, have supported that.

"Yeah, I feel much better," Logano said. "I feel like the meeting was very open and honest, which I feel like was necessary for all the drivers to get some things off their chest and their real concerns of what we’ve been going through and the experiences from inside the car.

It’s frustrating that the meeting took excessively long to happen. It should have been convened right after Kurt’s crash on Monday, rather than waiting for Alex’s incident and at least listening to our side. I’m not implying that they didn’t address the issue following Kurt’s crash, but face-to-face communication is crucial.

“You, the media, are well aware. You’re right here. We’ve previously engaged in Zoom media, and can you honestly say that those Zoom calls were as effective as in-person meetings? No, you can’t claim that those interviews were worth anything compared to face-to-face interaction. The same applies to your life as a race car driver. It’s even more crucial and we should be having these meetings in person regularly, not just when necessary, but proactively. I believe these messages were clearly understood.”

On Saturday, after the meeting, Hamlin was significantly more reserved than he was during the summer. Essentially, he indicated that he has given his input and it’s now time for other drivers to offer their perspectives, something that has transpired in the past two weeks.

Hamlin stated that he believes the urgency was probably created by his vocal nature in the past two weeks.

“Perhaps, in that aspect, I believe it was beneficial,” said Hamlin. “In this particular situation, it definitely created a sense of urgency when we delved into this topic.”

Hamlin stated that he was willing to meet with NASCAR on Sunday or at any time they wished to proceed with the process, emphasizing that the next phase was focused on generating results on the issue.

“Currently, I believe I’ve expressed all my thoughts on the safety issue,” stated Hamlin. “I wouldn’t alter anything, but now we anticipate the outcomes. We’ve listened to their proposed actions, and now we patiently await the results over the forthcoming three to six months.”

Logano also echoed that sentiment.

“Right now, it’s crucial for us to keep them accountable,” stated Logano. “We managed to arrange a meeting, but I hope that’s not the sole reason we had to meet – because a few drivers voiced their frustrations in the media. I hope that’s not the method we resort to in order to effect change in our sport. I believe we are better than that.”

“I hope we can rise above that. However, as previously stated, sometimes emotions can overwhelm you. I hesitate to say they get the ‘best of you’, but occasionally, a slight display of these emotions is necessary to initiate change and to ensure your voice is heard. It appeared to certainly provoke some action.”