Drivers still clamoring for more safety improvements

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fifteen years after Dale Earnhardt’s death at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR drivers are still clamoring for safety improvements.

Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, reigning champ Kyle Busch and others want pavement to replace the lush grass located near racing surfaces. Austin Dillon would like to see more protection around his feet inside the car. Ryan Newman believes tracks should install outside pit road walls to better protect crews.

“There’s a fix for everything,” Newman said. “It’s just a matter of spending time, money and effort to do it right.”

NASCAR certainly has taken significant strides in safety since Earnhardt’s death on Feb. 18, 2001. “The Intimidator” crashed hard into the outside wall of Turn 4 during the final lap of the Daytona 500, rocking the racing world and forcing NASCAR to take an immediate and aggressive stance on better protecting drivers.

The governing body opened a new research and development center in Charlotte, N.C., the following year with safety being the main mission.

He a d - a n d - n e c k restraints, six-point safety harnesses, improved fuel cells, the Car of Tomorrow and soft-wall technology are just some of the enhancements that followed.

Nonetheless, safety has been at the forefront of the Daytona 500 in recent years. Kyle Larson and Dillon had harrowing wrecks that sent pieces of debris spewing into the grandstand. Just last year, Busch broke his right leg and his left foot when his car slammed into a concrete wall during the Xfinity Series opener at Daytona.

Busch missed the 500 and 10 more races, yet a midsummer hot streak propelled him into the Chase and his first Cup title. Daytona has since installed more than 8,500 feet of energy-absorbing SAFER barriers.

Still, drivers want more. Getting rid of grass seems to top many of their wish lists.

Busch’s Toyota slid through a grassy area near Turn 1 at Daytona, and the grass did little to slow down his car. Daytona responded by putting down about 200,000 square feet of asphalt, most of that in the area of Busch’s crash.