When asked if he thought NASCAR was doing enough to promote the safety of its drivers following a rain-wrecked race in Daytona and a fiery one in Darlington, Chase Elliott deferred to his veteran peers.
“Guys like Kevin (Harvick) and those guys who have watched these generational changes and seen these cars change over time, I think they’re more qualified to talk about that stuff and to potentially speak up,” Elliott told reporters Tuesday. He added, “I certainly don’t think cars should be catching on fire for not doing anything wrong, not having any damage, not having any engine problems or anything.”
Questions surrounding driver safety in NASCAR were thrust into the spotlight for a second straight weekend after Sunday’s race in Darlington, and the conversation spilled into Tuesday as drivers and NASCAR officials reflected on what has gone wrong.
First was Daytona on Aug. 28, when rain caused the leaders’ cars to lose grip on the speedway and collect a bulk of a playoff field that was fighting for their playoff lives. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin at last week’s playoff media day spoke about how drivers are “feeling” wrecks more than they were in previous generations of cars, with a minor injury keeping Hamlin out of Darlington’s Xfinity race.
At Darlington’s Cup race Sunday, Harvick’s No. 4 car caught on fire out of nowhere on Lap 275. The 46-year-old driver and former NASCAR Cup Series champion exited the car immediately and settled for a 33rd-place finish. Afterward, he had choice words for the situation — saying that the combustion was caused by “crappy parts on the race car” and that “we haven’t fixed anything. ... It’s kinda like the safety stuff, we just let it keep going.”
Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday morning that the association was “digging into the cause” of how Harvick’s car caught on fire.
“It’s unacceptable for the cars to catch on fire, and we’ve been working on different solutions for different things along the way that seem to be the trigger,” Miller said in the interview. “Obviously, we still have work to do. ... There’s a lot of work going on, a lot of collaboration within the industry to get to the bottom of it. And we have to get to the bottom of it quick, obviously.”
The issue of the Next Gen car catching fire has been an issue all year: Chris Buescher and Joey Logano spent a bulk of their races at Indianapolis with cars in smoke. Chase Briscoe also experienced a fire at Richmond.
“We talk to everybody, and nobody wants to see this happen,” Miller said. “I think everybody will be forthcoming to try to help us as an industry get to (understanding) exactly what is creating this. And in fairness, Ford hasn’t been the only one who has had a problem. But I think some of the other problems we’ve seen, we have come up with solutions, but we can’t continue to have this.
“It’s all hands on deck with the teams and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and everybody trying to get to a spot where this isn’t a story.”
Elliott also talks issues in Darlington, looking to Kansas
Elliott didn’t have a good weekend in Darlington, finishing by losing control in Stage 1 and having to exit the race early after his car suffered irreparable damage. He told reporters Tuesday that the early exit was ultimately the result of spinning into Chase Briscoe — who was speeding close behind him — and suffering damage to the suspension of Elliott’s right-rear wheel (a broken toe link and lower control arm).
The NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion now sits ninth in the points standing, still very much in contention of making it to the Cup playoffs’ Round of 12, which begin at Talladega on Oct. 2.
On what he will learn from Darlington:
“I think for me, I’m gonna stick with my gut regardless of what happened last week or two weeks ago or a month ago. I’m gonna go with my gut feeling of what I think is right in a car. I think that’s the best way for me personally to perform at my best, is to go what I think is best at that particular time, and I’m not gonna adjust that at this point.”
On looking forward to this upcoming weekend at Kansas Speedway, a place where he finished 29th in May
“I felt like we had a super eventful Kansas, had a few issues and ultimately that tire problem ended our day (when a left-rear tire fell off his No. 9 Chevrolet while he was running sixth), so hopefully we don’t have another one of those weekends, and we can just put together another solid weekend, and try to get going in the right direction.”
