NASCAR’s new car proves its mettle

All comments aside, NASCAR’s new car proves its mettle


Once again—in one of the most brutal and potentially dangerous crashes since its introduction in 2007—NASCAR’s new racecar vindicated the enormous time, effort and money required to design and produce it.
At the same time, it proved that a war of words, no matter how negative, is far less important than actual performance on the asphalt.
On Lap 165 of Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500, Kurt Busch spun into the outside wall when Jimmie Johnson’s attempt at bump-drafting went awry. Busch slid back across the racetrack, and ESPN’s cameras followed his wild slide through the infield grass.
As the field accordioned behind Busch’s wreck, Elliott Sadler slowed. Drivers behind him didn’t react as quickly, and Sadler was launched on his own wild ride. Sadler’s trip ended suddenly and violently, as his No. 19 Ford slammed nose-first into the infield guardrail and triggered an explosion of dirt from the berm behind it.
The force of the impact ripped the engine from Sadler’s car and destroyed the front clip. Because ESPN was following Busch, all that was recorded of Sadler’s crash was one distant camera angle, but even that was enough to show the driver whiplashed against the harness that prevented him from flying into the steering wheel and windshield.
Miraculously, Sadler was only sore and short of breath from the violent jerk of the belts but otherwise intact.
“It’s definitely the hardest hit I’ve had in a racecar,” he said. “These new cars are built to be safer, and if I can get out of that and walk through that, I think it did its job.”
Todd Parrott, Sadler’s crew chief, provided a more pointed assessment.
“I walked out of the infield care center with a guy that probably—four or five years ago—wouldn’t have lived through that wreck right there,” Parrott said.
Though the crash wasn’t as spectacular as Michael McDowell’s barrel roll at Texas Motor Speedway in April 2008, it was perhaps the most convincing test to date of the efficacy of the new car, where safety is concerned.
No one who witnessed the Sadler crash would dare echo the inflammatory opinion Kyle Busch voiced after winning the inaugural race in the new car at Bristol in 2007.
“This car sucks,” Busch said in victory lane, in what was widely viewed as a boorish lack of decorum for a race winner.
Though the criticism was leveled at the handling characteristics of the car, NASCAR believes Busch’s remark broadly and materially tainted the perception of the new car within the sport’s fan base. In justifying recent secret fines to drivers who disparage the sport, Busch’s comment—though made before any such fines were levied—was front-and-center as an example of speech that should be discouraged and punished.
In reality, many fans, who are quite capable of making up their own minds, were viewing the new car with a jaundiced eye long before it made its competitive debut at Bristol. Why? Because an anomalous rear wing, which bore no familiarity to stock car tradition, was part of the design, giving credence to the perception that manufacturer identity—so long a staple of the sport—was disappearing as Sprint Cup evolved toward a spec series.
Early returns on the car’s performance suffered after runaway wins by Martin Truex Jr. at Dover and Clint Bowyer at New Hampshire. Over the past three years, however, the racing has improved dramatically as teams have explored and exploited the nuances of the new chassis.
The belated scrapping of the wing in favor of a traditional blade spoiler this past March mooted fans’ primary objection to the car’s appearance.
The bottom line is that actions speak louder than words, and that, despite the recent embargoes against negative speech, what happens on the racetrack is far more important than what someone says about it, whether in earnest or in jest.
Just ask Elliott Sadler.
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service