By AMANDA VINCENT
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday that the sanctioning body is looking into options to keep cars from getting airborne in superspeedway races at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and Daytona (Fla.) Speedway after Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, got airborne and flipped multiple times during a crash in the Geico 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega on Sunday.
“We’re disappointed that what transpired transpired, but super happy that Joey was okay and the roll hoop and all the things that needed to protect him did,” Miller said. “But cars getting up in the air is not good. It’s something that we’ve been working on and will continue to work on.”
On the final lap of the first 60-lap stage of the Talladega race, contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent Denny Hamlin’s car into Logano’s car. As Logano’s car got airborne and flipped, it flew over the car driven by Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. before coming to rest right-side-up.
“I guess I don’t know exactly what to think,” Logano said Sunday, after the crash. “It is a product of this racing. On one hand, I am so proud to drive a Cup car that is safe, and that I can go through a crash like that and get out and speak about it. On one hand, I am made about being in the crash and on the other, I am happy to be alive. On another hand, I am wondering when we are going to stop because this is dangerous doing what we are doing. I got a roll bar in my head. That is not okay. I am one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through. I just don’t feel like that is acceptable. A lot of it is the big spoiler and the big runs and all the pushing. It is nobody’s fault. Denny is trying to go and the 47 (Stenhouse) is trying to go. It is a product of this racing. We have to fix it, though. Someone already got hurt and we are still doing it, so that’s not real smart. At the same time, I am appreciative of driving a car that is this safe and what Team Penske has done for the safety of these cars so that I can live to talk about it and go again. I got lucky that I didn’t get hit while I was in the air. It is unfortunate for our Autotrader Mustang but we will go on but it won’t be a good starting spot next week.”
Newman suffered injuries that included brain bruising in a crash during which his car got airborne after hitting the wall on the final lap of the 2020 Daytona 500. In that crash, Newman’s car was struck in the driver-side door area by another car while Newman’s car was upside-down. After Newman’s crash, additional bracing was added to the roll cage.
In an interview, also on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday, Logano expressed interest in being an advocate for change in attempts to keep cars on the ground. Among his ideas was a reduction in spoiler height to keep cars from bunching up in such large, tight groups.
“The spoiler creates, in my opinion, the runs that we see,” Logano said. “The big runs that create the pushes and the shoves. Cars don’t crash in the corners anymore. They crash down the straightaways from pushing. We need to create a little bit more bubble and more space between cars like we used to have. We’ll still have pack racing, just like we’ve always had. We’ll still have the ‘big one’ , but it won’t happen as frequently, and I think that is good. Also, with the big spoiler, when the car goes backwards, it’s creating lift and, maybe, not allowing the roof flaps to do its job, either. “Those things, to me, (are) probably the easiest fix. It sounds like a quick, easy fix. Obviously, you’ve got to balance it with the splitter and then you have to adjust the engine package to go with it, because the drag you would be taking off the car would be drastic. There are ripple effects that have to go through engine guys, team owners, drivers, everyone would have to get on the same page, competition directors.”
The Cup Series will contest two more superspeedway races, one each at Talladega and Daytona, this season before the move the the Next Gen car for 2020.
“I know we have the Next Gen car coming,” Logano said. “We think that will be better, but we have two more races on superspeedways this year, and we must do something, because we cannot afford to lose one of our competitors.”
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