2-Headed Monster: Does NASCAR Really Have a Flipping Problem?

By now it seems like this debate gets hashed out after every single superspeedway race, but that’s because it’s a worthwhile issue.

After Ryan Preece‘s car flipped again at Daytona International Speedway, he shared his concerns with the media.

“I got a 2-year old daughter, just like a lot of us,” Preece said. “We’ve got families. Something needs to be done because [of the] cars lifting off the ground like that.”

The very valid counterpoint there, though, is that these races take place at speeds well in excess of 190 mph. Cars flipping over on the track is not a new thing, but in an era where the safety of the drivers is considered to be paramount, to what level should the drivers’ opinions be considered, no matter the context?

Our writers Vito Pugliese and James Jackson discuss the matter in this week’s 2-Headed Monster.

The Price to Play the Game

Another Daytona 500 has come and gone. There was racing. There was crashing.

There was Preece, sailing into the north Florida night sky, once again.

All in all, pretty par for course in The Great American Race. Having said that, what’s so great about it lately?

The day started with plenty of pomp and circumstance. Fly-bys from Air Force One, POTUS on sight to take some hot laps in The Beast and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performing an impromptu air show that lasted a lot longer than the usual anthem flyby.

Then the racing started … right before it stopped for hours.

Once it resumed, fans were treated to telemetry showing 70% throttle to save fuel, and three wide racing throughout the field. It looked like close racing – but in reality, it was precision driving that would make the Thunderbirds proud.

A couple of multi-car incidents took place on laps 64 and 72, but not the catastrophic field cleanser that fans are used to. The crowd had to wait until 13 laps to go when Joey Logano tried repeatedly to push through a block that an obviously outclassed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continued to throw.

What resulted was predictable. It seems these incidents tend to involve many of the same names from year to year and superspeedway race.

Oh, but it wasn’t over. Not hardly.

On the last lap there was the final field cleanser, with Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe clearing out Denny Hamlin and Corey LaJoie, which sent the field scattering in several different directions.

No yellow flag, however. I mean why would you? It wasn’t like there was anything unusual that just happened. I guess Tyler Reddick was expected to suddenly produce an extra 100 horsepower more than winner William Byron and side draft him to the flag – but I digress.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Is the car a contributor of these repeated aerial maneuvers? Absolutely. Look at the bottom of it and look at the blowover crashes that were common in IMSA and IndyCar 25-30 years ago. The new car also has a rearward weight shift with the transaxle. They flip and catch air no different than the silver Mercedes getting flung into the woods of the French countryside at LeMans in 1999.

Is this a product of modern superspeedway racing? Unfortunately, it is. It doesn’t have to be, but NASCAR has allowed it and promoted it.

I have written before that there is a way to police this. If you cause a wreck, you get penalized for rough driving. There was a penalty box that was used in the past. What’s stopping NASCAR from using it again?

Hamlin suggested on his Actions Detrimental podcast this week that the cars have too much drag in them, which prevents drivers from making moves out of the draft and losing all momentum.

Can we maybe try those two things to see if it stops the carnage?

This isn’t to suggest the superspeedway racing was somehow sanitized 30 years ago. I was at the 1992 Daytona 500 in the stands with my dad when Ernie Irvan, Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin collected each other racing for the halfway bonus and wiped out all but six cars on the lead lap.

It wasn’t great after that.

Back then, though it was incidental contact that might start a chain reaction wreck. Now, we have guys slamming into each other repeatedly at a 10-15 mph difference to shove themselves forward and everyone acts surprised and indignant that another crash has happened while the car that’s shaped like an F-22 Raptor on the bottom is taking off again.

The solution isn’t that complicated.

NASCAR is making it harder than it needs to be. If you cause a wreck, you should be held accountable. Right now there’s no incentive to not drive like a sociopath. Maybe start there and a smaller spoiler, and see if we can actually make it to the advertised distance and not crash going in a straight line. – Vito Pugliese

Drivers’ Concerns About Next Gen Cars Are Valid

Since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, a total of eight Cup Series cars have found themselves upended.

Drivers like Harrison Burton, Chris Buescher, Corey LaJoie (twice), Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick and most recently, Ryan Preece (twice). So the question remains, why is it so dangerous and what can be done to improve safety?

Gone are the days of “man up,” “stop complaining” or “it’s auto racing, don’t like it? Retire.”

The glory days of NASCAR where drivers would flip multiple times and walk away like nothing happened are long gone. A driver shouldn’t be criticized because they are wanting to be safe in a very dangerous sport. I think it’s also important to note that three of those flips were at non-superspeedway tracks in Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway.

Since 2022, the Next Gen car has seen several drivers sidelined with injuries due to complications with the safety measures of the car. Drivers like Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch were out with concussions, Cody Ware broke his ankle and Erik Jones broke his back.

Comments made by Preece on his second flip in the Next Gen car at the Daytona 500 shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“I don’t know what the right thing to say right now is, but I think the thing I want to say as a father, as a racer is we keep beating on a door, hoping for a different result,” Preece said. “And I think we know where there’s a problem at superspeedways, so I don’t want to be the example when [death] finally does get somebody.”

Preece has been in two violent accidents that saw him on his roof, the first of which resulted in him receiving two black eyes, which gives him all the more reason to be concerned about driver safety.

It’s not a matter of being “weak,” it’s about wanting NASCAR to do something to keep drivers safe so they can go home to their families. Why would a driver want to voluntarily get in a stock car and go speeds in excess of 200 mph in a car that has a history of driver injuries?

I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can design a better and safer car, I did not go to school for that. I will make a recommendation that NASCAR remove the flat undercarriage on the car. After seeing Preece lift straight up from the nose of the car, that flat undercarriage did nothing to keep the car on the ground. Additionally, five of the rollovers came from Ford Mustangs. Perhaps a redesign of those cars are in order as well.

While there is a rollover problem with the Next Gen cars, drivers will be expected to suit up and race at another superspeedway-esque track this Sunday (Feb. 23) at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I would not be shocked, if this keeps happening, if a driver might make the decision to sit out of a superspeedway race. The biggest question is, how many times do drivers need to make their concerns heard before something is done about it? – James Jackson