NASCAR running thread

Sheesh that looked ugly in the Nationwide race. Hope it's not too bad, but dayyyum.

 

Great race up to that point. I have to wonder why ESPN, which finally got around to showing a replay just now, showed one from a pretty flat angle.

 

ESPN's guys are saying a tire flew 20-25 rows up. That can't be good.

 

One of the tires looked like it went 20 rows into the stands. That can't be good. When they don't show replays it's usually a sign of something bad. All they kept showing was the engine and tire near the fence. If nothing else, I bet some people were burned by oil coming out of the engine that was on fire.

 

Yahoo's reporting "at least six" ...

 

Restrictor plate racing! It just might kill ya!

Time to put a stop to this bullshit ... and I couldn't care less if it means someone runs away and wins by two laps.

It's only a matter of time before a car clears or completely breaks through one of these fences. Carl Edwards came pretty close at Talladega last year.

 

If you went to NASCAR.com, you would have no idea fans were hit unless you watched a video labeled "VIDEO: NASCAR OFFICIALS ON WRECK."

 

Some thoughts:

1. This won't happen tomorrow because the new Cup cars can't tandem race.
2. The tandem racing today was absolutely awesome. If Regan Smith hadn't thrown that block in the final turn, it would have gone down as one of the better Nationwide races ever.
3. This isn't a surprise. Most of the tandem races have ended this way.
4. Really hope all the fans survive this. It's shocking to see how large the debris field got. I've sat 20 rows up at Daytona before. Never fathomed debris would get this high.

 

When Earnhardt's hood went into the stands, it severed a fan's hand. Didn't it take about a year before NASCAR acknowledged that?

 

Restrictor plate racing was implemented exactly to prevent this sort of thing. Bobby Allison went airborne at Talladega in '87, tore a section out of the fence and slung debris at a chunk of fans. No one was hurt very seriously, thank goodness. A year later both Talladega and Daytona were restrictor-plate tracks.

 

Only a year? I'm impressed.