5/31/2023 0 Comments Fastest car in wreckfest![]() “From an entertainment standpoint, they should be lined up out to the highway,” he said after finishing second Sunday. Gordon understands the dilemma NASCAR is facing. “We still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn’t be that way.” “It’s not fair to these fans for them to not see more wrecks than that and more torn-up cars,” he said. It was Stewart, remember, who assailed the racing in May with a four-minute, tongue-in-cheek Q&A that dripped in sarcasm directed at the perceived notion that fans want to see wrecks, not racing. There’s been little to no public discussion about plate racing beyond the grumbling of drivers tired of wrecking. The introduction of the 2013 car has given NASCAR an opportunity to address several racing concerns, but most of it seems centered on improving the product at intermediate tracks. “There has been a last-lap wreck in like 90 percent of these things for the last four years with this car,” said Earnhardt. The race to the checkered flag at Daytona in July led to a 15-car accident on the final lap, and then came Sunday’s demolition derby. There was a nine-car accident with four laps to go at Talladega in May, and that was a day after Eric McClure was hospitalized following a late wreck in the Nationwide Series race. But from a standpoint of the sport and the health of it, I think not a lot of people watch chess matches, and I’ve never seen one televised.” “Ideally, we’d like to just walk straight down the line all the time. I think it’s important to have tracks like this that maybe average it back out a little bit. And then we go other places where I’d say we’re more on the chess-player side of the line. “When we come to Daytona and a track like this, we’re maybe more on the daredevil side of the line. “I feel like we walk a line in this sport between daredevils and chess players,” Brad Keselowski said in February. And, after an 11-car last-lap accident took out all the leaders in the Nationwide race, drivers warned of the danger going into the Daytona 500.ĭrivers can either run out front all race and hope for the best or hang back and then go for it late – in packs. The result? Four ridiculous races this season.Ī jet-dryer explosion in the season-opening Daytona 500 overshadowed the fact that there were three multi-car accidents, including one that knocked out Jimmie Johnson on the second lap of the race and an eight-car wreck that sent the race into overtime. NASCAR listened and worked all winter on a rules package that would break up the tandems and bring back the pack. Teams figured out over the last few years that hooking up in two-car tandems was more effective, but the new style of racing infuriated fans who screamed to NASCAR they wanted the white-knuckle pack racing to return. The plates are needed to throttle horsepower at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR’s two biggest and fastest tracks, but they keep the cars bunched together in huge packs where the slightest slip can wipe out most of the field. The bigger picture is the overall danger that’s created by the current NASCAR rule package used in restrictor-plate racing. “Tony is a guy that takes blame for things and you’ve got to respect him for that, but I think there is a little more to it.” “When you look at the bigger picture is that really what caused it?” asked Jeff Gordon. But at least one rival believed the defending NASCAR champion wasn’t entirely culpable for an accident everyone knew was going to happen. He immediately took responsibility for causing the wreck. ![]() His defensive driving sent his car sailing up and over the field, triggering the accident that collected 10 of the 12 Chase championship contenders. Tony Stewart, who so abhors blocking he has threatened on multiple occasions to wreck any driver who does it to him, threw the biggest block of them all Sunday while trying to hold on to a victory at Talladega. The roof wing is specifically made for oval racing.“I don’t even want to go to Daytona or Talladega next year, but I ain’t got much choice,” Earnhardt grumbled.
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