In recent years, one of the most interesting additions to the NASCAR Cup Series has been the addition of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield road course, now referred to as the ROVAL, to the schedule in 2018. I went to the first ROVAL race on credential for Frontstretch for many reasons. I wanted to check out the track and the area since I had never been out of the airport in Charlotte prior to that.
That first year saw some chaos, decent racing, an instance where “everyone went to the pile” in turn 1 and a wild finish. Sunday’s race had the last thing, I guess. Not so much for the rest.
Entering the race weekend, the NASCAR industry was in a period of consternation unseen in years. You name it, there are currently issues: the raceworthiness of the Next Gen car at road courses and tracks smaller than Gateway, the ongoing issues with the cars not absorbing hits, the negotiations for a cut of the next TV deal for teams. Seemingly, there isn’t very much good news going around.
With that in the background, NASCAR president Steve Phelps joined Marty Snider, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton on the Peacock Pit Box prior to the race to discuss some of these issues.
The biggest takeaway here is that Phelps admitted that he and NASCAR dropped the ball when it comes to safety on the Next Gen car. They simply didn’t listen early enough to drivers when they were saying that they were feeling the hits much harder than in the Gen6 car, and Phelps took responsibility for that.
It’s truly sad that it took this long to publicly acknowledge that fact knowing William Byron made note of how hard the hits in the Next Gen car were more than a year ago after he wrecked during one of the tests. Sure, having all those sensors on the cars during the crash testing probably helped a bunch, but humans are humans. The drivers on the grid are not going to lie about stuff like this. They’re scared and want something better.
To that end, NASCAR did crash test a new rear end structure that gives more back on Wednesday. Phelps indicated that the test was successful and that it would be implemented on the Next Gen cars in time for The Clash at the Coliseum in February. That’s a good move, although I have no doubt that the drivers wished that they could have it tomorrow.
Also, Phelps acknowledged that there has been a lack of communication between the drivers and management. Phelps talked about how the…
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