While there are only two superspeedway races left for the current generation of NASCAR Cup Series car, driver safety on stock car racing's biggest and fastest tracks is at the forefront of the conversation at the sport's highest level. That could very well mean changes in store for the Cup Series' next superspeedway race in August.
Speaking to reporters during the unveiling of NASCAR's NextGen car on Wednesday, NASCAR chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell gave an update to the investigation Joey Logano's scary crash in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. At the end of stage one, Logano's car was spun in a crash, went airborne and flipped onto its roof after contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
O'Donnell shared that NASCAR has presented its work thus far to the drivers, while also hinting that a reduction in speed at Daytona & Talladega may be in store.
"We're having ongoing dialogue with the drivers," said O'Donnell. "I think if anything, you can see us take a look at the speeds of the car as we head potentially into our next superspeedway race. But yeah, (the accident) all had kind of to do with the angle and where the car was and the contact."
While Logano was uninjured in the accident, he was publicly outspoken about the current aerodynamic rules on superspeedways and how they contributed to his car taking flight. Logano directly compared his accident to the one experienced by Ryan Newman at the end of the 2020 Daytona 500, and he was likewise vulnerable while on his roof: Logano's car landed with his driver's side window facing traffic, with his spoiler grazing the oncoming car of Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe having to take evasive action to avoid him.
"I've got a rollbar in my head, you know what I mean? That's not okay," Logano told Fox Sports. "I'm one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through. I just don't feel like that's acceptable. A lot of it's due to this big spoiler and these big runs, the pushing and all that. It's no one's fault - Denny's trying to go and the No. 47's trying to go, it's a product of this racing. We have to fix it, though. Because someone already got hurt, and we're still doing it."
In order to create bigger runs and more passing opportunities, NASCAR introduced a number of rule changes for Daytona & Talladega in 2019, among which included a larger rear spoiler. While the rules package has had the intended effect on the racing product, it has also reintroduced the dreaded problem of cars achieving liftoff in crashes. Since 2019, there have been six separate incidents where a car has become airborne at Daytona or Talladega, rekindling an issue that NASCAR has tried to stamp out since the late 1980s.
NASCAR has tried slowing speeds at Daytona & Talladega many times in the past, with their most recent efforts coming after Ryan Newman was injured at Daytona in 2019 when his car flipped over and then was struck in the driver's side roof. However, driver William Byron noted after the most recent race at Talladega that the teams had adapted to such rule changes and had their cars back at and over 200 MPH.
While NASCAR's likeliest actions will be in the interest of driver safety, the introduction of the NextGen car in 2022 and the impending obsolescence of the current generation car presents somewhat of a barrier to major rule changes. And the matter of the racing product - specifically, what fans find entertaining - is another consideration.
"Back in the old days of the 'bubble', when you would get close to someone and it would push them away - Fans hated that. So they put a big spoiler on this thing to get us to run close to each other," Denny Hamlin told reporters on Friday. "So it's a balance. It's not just about slowing the speed down, it has to go with the package as well.
"The package that is the safest is probably not the most exciting, and vice versa. So we have to just figure out that balance of speed and danger and figure out how much we're willing to take."
NASCAR has the benefit of time on their side in trying to find that balance, as the next superspeedway race does not come until August 28, when the Cup Series returns to Daytona for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and regular season finale.
