It’s amazing how much things can change in a year. In February 2015 NASCAR was a champion for SAFER barriers at all tracks and in 2016 NASCAR can’t even offer a straight answer about previous promises that they made.
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France deftly diffused a question asked of him on Tuesday seeking to clarify the sanctioning body’s role in working with race tracks to add SAFER barriers to their facilities. It was a commitment made in February of 2015 following Kyle Busch’s accident in the season-opening XFinity Series event held at Daytona International Speedway.
At that time, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said:
"From our perspective, what happened tonight should not have happened. That’s on us and we’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it immediately. Our priority is safety, and we’ll continue to put things in place that make this sport as safe as possible."
On Tuesday it was a valid question by the media, and Mr. France was simply asked what NASCAR’s role has been in working in an advisory capacity to the tracks in this endeavor. One would have assumed he would have provided either actual insight on NASCAR’s role or some cookie-cutter response about how NASCAR is doing everything that they can. Instead, he put the onus entirely on the tracks themselves. Would it have been too much to just provide an update? Instead, France remarked:
"Well, obviously the speedways handle the SAFER barriers from facility to facility. What we’ve said is that they’re going to be wherever they need to be, and our tracks have said, that’s right. They totally agree."
Actually, what NASCAR said was “That’s on us and we’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it immediately.” I would imagine that it’s hard not to agree with NASCAR if you’re a speedway and you want to be granted a race date, right? Of course the tracks are going to agree otherwise they will lose their events, but now it somehow has become only the tracks responsibility as opposed to NASCAR’s focus? France added:
"All the tracks are taking a different look, because listen, they believed that they were in good shape. Those looks are underway, and I’m very confident that our tracks, they feel just as strongly as I do and we do that they’re going to be wherever they need to be."
So let’s not call it a commitment on NASCAR’s part, but rather a mandate. Let’s not call it NASCAR taking responsibility for the Busch accident even though they said it’s “on us” and “our priority is safety.” Instead, let’s call it what it really is; in February when it was a hot-button issue NASCAR was out front leading the parade. Now that the urgency has died down and time has passed, NASCAR has slinked to the back of the line and shifted their attention to areas they feel are more important, like the caution clock.
BeyondTheFlag.com examined which tracks have made improvements and which ones have not in preparation for the 2016 season. Our analysis provided a bit more information than did Mr. France in his remarks and that information can be found in the story below.
Related Story: Which Tracks Will Be SAFER in 2016?
Update 1: Since the above article was written, Pocono Raceway has committed to an additional 11,100 linear feet of SAFER barrier over the 2016-2017 seasons at it’s facility in Long Pond, PA.
Update 2: Kentucky Speedway has also announced a comprehensive renovation of it’s entire racing surface which will include greater banking, improved drainage and additional sections of SAFER barrier since the above article was written. These improvements are scheduled to be complete before the Quaker State 400 on July 9, 2016.