Elliott: Next Gen car a step backward

NASCAR’S most popular driver said the sport has taken an unacceptable step backward in safety with its new Next Gen car, a rare public offering of opinion by Chase Elliott.

NASCAR’S top drivers essentially have turned into an angry mob as they head into today’s playoff race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch are both sidelined with concussions, and Cody Shane Ware will race with a broken foot. All three drivers were injured in crashes in NASCAR’S new Next Gen car.

The car had a honeymoon phase when it debuted at the start of the year because it delivered on its promise to improve the racing and level the competitive playing field. And while the Next Gen faced some bugs in the first seven months, the car is now experiencing serious problems during the playoff portion of the season.

That’s created a growing sense of urgency from the drivers that NASCAR must soften the rear of the cars in the interest of safety.

Bowman and Busch were both injured when the rear of their cars hit the wall. Because the Next Gen was designed to be durable, their crashes looked routine, when in reality most of the energy from the impact was absorbed by the driver. Busch is out for an 11th consecutive race; bowman crashed on the 98th lap last Sunday at Texas, radioed his team to say it was the hardest hit of his life, appeared unwell on his in-car camera and yet continued to drive 231 laps. He was diagnosed with his concussion on Thursday.

“These types of incidents that result in injuries . ... I’m not a doctor, but I’ve watched a lot of cars back into the wall and the guy would be fine,” Elliott, who is teammates with Bowman at Hendrick Motorsport, said before qualifying at Talladega.

“No one’s immune to it; it could be me next week. It could be any of my peers or fellow competitors. I just hate to see us go backwards and I’m afraid that we have,” Elliott added.

Christopher Bell won the pole for the Cup race today with a speed of 180.591 mph. He was followed by Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe.

• Max Verstappen looked on course for pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix when his Red Bull team aborted his lap with just seconds left in qualifying because of a fuel issue and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole instead.

Verstappen starts eighth, although he’s won from 14th on the grid this season in Belgium.

• AJ Allmendinger finally won his first race on a superspeedway with a lastlap pass that allowed him to beat Sam Mayer to the Talladega finish line by less than 3 feet.

Allmendinger’s fourth Xfinity Series win of the season locked him into the next round of the playoffs and afforded him the luxury to not hold back in next week’s elimination race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Allmendinger is a perfect 3-for-3 in his career.

He denied Mayer his first career Xfinity Series victory by 0.015 seconds.

• Matt Dibenedetto was named winner of the Truck Series race at Talladega after a lengthy review by NASCAR officials of the finishing order.

Dibenedetto and Alabama native Bret Holmes both waited inside their trucks, parked side-byside, as NASCAR reviewed its data.

The race went to overtime and there were several lead swaps over the two-lap shootout finish. But then a crash in the middle of the pack as the leaders were headed to the checkered flag caused NASCAR to throw the caution.

Holmes in the outside lane seemed to be the first driver to the finish line by inches over Dibenedetto on the bottom. But NASCAR reverted back to who was the leader when the caution flag waved — seconds before the drivers reached the checkered flag.

It was the first national series victory for Dibenedetto.