NASCAR's most popular driver said Saturday 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 Sunday's playoff race at Talladega 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.
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.
Elliott last week crashed when his tire failed while leading at Texas. Although he's been voted the most popular driver by fans the last three years, the 26-year-old son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott very rarely publicizes his opinions on controversies. Elliott said NASCAR had plenty of time to develop the car and discover these new problems. The Next Gen was announced in 2019 as scheduled to debut in 2021, but in 2020 NASCAR moved the debut to this season because of COVID-19 slowdowns.
Ross Chastain, winner at Talladega in the spring, qualified sixth in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing. Noah Gragson was seventh and is the replacement driver at Hendrick Motorsports for Alex Bowman, who is out with a concussion.Tyler Reddick was visibly upset after he hit a NASCAR official when he couldn't get his car stopped as she guided him on pit road following his qualifying run.
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