Safety first: NASCAR tweaks superspeedway package, again

Safety first: NASCAR tweaks superspeedway package, again
Photo: Nigel Kinrade

Often regarded as the pinnacle of entertainment in NASCAR, superspeedway racing has been a staple in the sport for over six decades. Still, there’s more than meets the eye with this stylized hurricane of intensity. The game of inches that makes for compelling headlines also has a nasty reputation for calamity, which has claimed the lives of competitors as early as 1965.

NASCAR never quits striving to improve the safety of their vehicles, but two terrifying wrecks at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in a span of one year prompted the sanctioning body to make drastic alterations to their high-speed rules package in back-to-back seasons.

Ryan Newman’s wreck in the 2020 Daytona 500 brought about a series of changes mid-season, including additional roll bar support, elimination of aero ducts and reduced throttle body sizes, all designed to decrease speed at superspeedways. This worked fine until the Geico 500 at Talladega in 2021, where Joey Logano’s car went airborne and flipped numerous times.

While Logano walked away unscathed, the damage the car sustained was eye-opening.

“When are we going to stop, because this is dangerous, doing what we’re doing,” the driver of the No. 22 said in his post-wreck interview. “I got a roll bar in my head. That’s not OK. I’m one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman was in.” 

Photo courtesy of Joey Logano

With the regular-season finale at Daytona just 10 races away, NASCAR has implemented a new set of specification changes. Teams will be mandated to use a smaller tapered spacer — a modification that will decrease the horsepower from 510 to 450 (about 10 mph slower) — in addition to a reinforced roll bar behind the driver compartment and rear wheel well while removing wicker from the spoiler.

To put it in layman’s terms, they’re changes being made to reduce speeds and ensure the safety of drivers.

“NASCAR felt they needed to do something and I’m always for anything that keeps us on the ground and safer,” Austin Dillon told The Circuit Journal. The driver of the No. 3 suffered a terrifying wreck at Daytona in 2015, in which his Chevrolet went airborne into the catch fence on the final lap of the race.

“It’ll definitely be interesting, but they have to try something,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said. “Obviously, we’re flipping cars — which nobody wants to do — but you look at the history of racing, that’s a product of racing and it happens. That’s a tough ask, but it’s cool [NASCAR is] trying.”

Photo courtesy of Joey Logano

Unsurprisingly, fans are hung up on the notion of reducing speeds at Talladega and Daytona by 10 mph. While this should be the least of anyone’s concerns, it raises a fair question of how it can impact the racing at these superspeedways.

“You might not see the big runs at speedways you’ve seen in the last couple years and people trying to block,” Dillon said. “There might be more blocking and really about keeping track position, because you can’t get through the field as easy when they take some horsepower away. I think it’s one of those things we’ll definitely have a learning curve throughout.”

“It seems like everytime we slow the cars down, we continue to push harder,” Stenhouse said. “It just seems to be a product of being a little bit more comfortable. If the speeds are that far down, I feel like bumping in the corners becomes more continuous and I don’t know how that will affect people locking up.”

For the people complaining about horsepower reduction — this is all about preserving the longevity of drivers you love to watch and the state of competing at these tracks, which drivers have been outspoken about shying away from. There have been 10 fatalities at superspeedways throughout NASCAR’s 73-year history, the most recent coming with Dale Earnhardt in 2001. We don’t need the boundaries to be pushed any further to incite another tragedy.

Instead of whining about speed reduction, how about praising NASCAR for continuing to take progressive strides to ensure these athletes are safe? No one will touch Bill Elliott’s 212 mph record set in 1987, and truthfully, will anyone notice a difference when the cars cross the line around 180 mph? Probably not.

It’s time to embrace change and not let anger towards reduced speeds fester. Until you strap in a stock car and put your life on the line four times a year at these tracks, you have no room to weigh in on the conversation. We’ll have to wait until August to see how these modifications alter the racing product, but none of that should matter as long as the drivers are safer.