LEBANON, Tennessee — It was a violent impact, a head-on impact into the concrete that makes one wince at the sight and only gets more uncomfortable upon closer inspection, adding to concerns for the safety of the driver of the car that just struck the Wall.
Luckily, Ryan Blaney managed to get out of that car under his own power, although it took him a few moments to recover from the crushed No. 12 Ford that had just slammed into the inside wall during Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Nashville Superspeedway. Blaney was later evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center.
But Blaney’s escape from the accident doesn’t relieve NASCAR of the fact that the wall he crashed into wasn’t protected by an energy-absorbing SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier. And Blaney made his feelings on the matter clear.
“I don’t know why there isn’t a SAFER barrier there,” Blaney said. “It’s quite ridiculous, to be honest. The hardest blow I’ve ever suffered in my life.”
Safety is and should always be the top priority in motorsport. Above all. Especially considering this is the era of the next-gen car, which hasn’t proven to be good at absorbing bumps – particularly on the front and back of the car, like the one Blaney pocketed on Sunday .
In the 18 months since the vehicle was first introduced, three drivers have had accidents that resulted in symptoms similar to concussions. One of those drivers, Kurt Busch, had his career effectively ended. The other two, Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson, were initially evaluated after their respective accidents and released from the infield care center, as was Blaney on Sunday, only to show concussion-like symptoms a few days later. Bowman missed five races; Gragson one.
SAFER barriers have proven to be an effective tool in helping drivers escape accidents unharmed or reduce the injuries sustained. And the history of this car shows that in an accident it does not absorb much energy, but the driver bears the brunt. For this reason, it is imperative to take all reasonable protective measures.
“NASCAR safety engineers are working closely with safety professionals to implement barriers around the track,” NASCAR said in a statement. “Like after every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make improvements where necessary.”
For reasons that are not entirely clear, there was an unprotected wall at Nashville on part of the track, on the inside wall at the end of the front track, where it was possible for a car to crash. NASCAR agreed, otherwise the problem would have been solved before the race weekend.
Every NASCAR track visit is thoroughly inspected in the months, weeks, and days leading up to the race weekend. If the sanctioning authority determines that a circuit requires additional safety requirements of any kind, the circuit must essentially comply with the policy. Just two weeks ago, track operator Speedway Motorsports completed the installation of 1,500 feet of additional SAFER barrier in Nashville along the backstretch to meet NASCAR’s recommendation.
Several new tracks have been added to the Cup Series schedule in recent years, including Nashville. At each of these new facilities, NASCAR is working with experts from the University of Nebraska — where SAFER barriers were first developed — to determine which sections of a racetrack should be covered with a SAFER barrier and the timeline for installing the barriers , taking into account the probability that the part of the wall will be affected, the costs involved and the availability of materials.
With Blaney’s accident and Nashville only hosting its third Cup race after being dormant for ten years, some drivers Sunday night wondered if there might have been an oversight in Nashville’s rating.
“It’s about money, right. And sometimes it’s an accident,” said Kyle Busch. “I think those are probably the two biggest factors that go into why things get done or not.
“We all worked on safety and were proud of it, and we tried to say (NASCAR): No matter where, you never corner and take the risk (of a driver not hitting a certain area). Rail). Many circuits have (SAFER) barriers all around the infield. I mean give us a chance, we’ll be able to find a way to hit something one way or the other.”
NASCAR has proven that following a major accident where safety concerns have been raised, it will do whatever it takes to address the issue.
Most recently, this past off-season, NASCAR implemented measures to better distribute the energy a car absorbs in a crash so that the driver doesn’t bear the brunt of the force.
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And in 2015, after Kyle Busch sustained serious injuries to both legs when his car crashed into an unprotected concrete wall at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR had its tracks uncovered walls re-evaluated to determine if changes were needed. The result was a flood of tracks, with additional SAFER barriers being installed over the following weeks and months.
In the years since Kyle Busch crashed, it has become rare for a crash to raise the question of why a wall was unprotected. Blaney’s crash is all the more remarkable.
“I’m surprised one of these still exists,” Martin Truex Jr. said, referring to an exposed wall that wasn’t protected in any way. “I’m sure it was probably a crazy deal, but there’s no way these cars should ever hit anything without a SAFER barrier. Still, I’m nervous about next weekend.”
Next week is a visit to a circuit that’s brand new to the Cup schedule this year, a temporary street course being built in downtown Chicago. How this race will play out has caused much speculation, with many drivers believing that the narrow layout will lead to a large number of accidents.
It’s also unknown if Nashville will have some sort of barrier covering the wall hit by Blaney when NASCAR returns next year, but it’s likely a protective measure will be put in place to prevent a similar incident.
“I’m sure they’ll take it up a notch after that,” Blaney said. “It sucks that something like this has to happen, someone hits a wall head-on like that and then you’re like, ‘Oh, let’s put a SAFER barrier on top of it.’ It’s like, “Why don’t you do the whole track?” I’ll pay the damn thing to put it there.”
(Photo: Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)