During Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, driver of the No. 6 car for JD Motorsports and our Friend, Brennan Poole, was caught up in a scary crash while battling the No. 39 of Ryan Sieg. The two cars were battling for 18th when the front nose of Sieg’s car got into the back bumper of Poole’s No. 6. This sent the 6 car around and, as it went through the grass, the car did not so down, sending it head-first into the concrete inside pit wall. You can watch real-time footage of the accident in the Tweet below.
Nobody likes to see a driver take a hard impact like Poole did here. Driver safety is and always will be a concern. What’s sometimes forgotten from a fan standpoint is that NASCAR is a contact sport. These drivers are putting their lives on the line week in and week out and that can never be forgotten. But, when it comes to crashes on pit road, that’s when the danger hits another level that, if anything bad does happen, could be inexcusable.
I’ve been down in the pits before. A handful of times. But, in all of those instances, I was at Darlington and later, most recently, Bristol which both have outside pit walls, which provide some protection to crew members and pass holders. So, when Kyle Larson turned J. H. Nemechek to win the Xfinity race at Darlington earlier this year, my mom and I were safe despite it happening virtually right in front of us. No debris flew our way. We were at a safe enough distance, thanks, in part, to the addition of that outside wall.
In a crash like this at Texas, the crew members (and you can see many of the crew members of Jeffery Earnhardt’s No. 45 duck down and brace for impact) are at the mercy of that single concrete wall. Luckily, nobody was hurt but it does make it reasonable to question whether or not all NASCAR tracks should have the extra security of an outside pit wall.
In the video below provided by NASCAR on NBC, you can see a slowed-down version of the impact from a different angle:
Crashing on pit road is always a dangerous place to hit, just like that patch of concrete where no SAFER barrier was installed. Sometimes, the car just finds it. But is that really something worth risking when it comes to the crew members? Yes, they’re athletes and their roles are to be up close and personal. But they didn’t ask for this kind of danger and I think that some discussions about how to better assure the safety of crew members are in order.
In a short video provided by Justin Watson, here is the aftermath of the impact in J. Earnhardt’s pit stall. The pit wall held up, thank goodness.
After Brennan Poole got out, this quote from a very angry crew member was reported by The Racing Underdogs. The team member’s comments are in reference to Ryan Sieg, driver of the No. 39.
After being checked out and released from the infield care center, Brennan Poole seemed to think of it as just being an unfortunate racing deal. He described it as two drivers arguing for limited space. You can watch his full interview in the video below.
Mark S wonders why it’s not mandatory for a wall in front of pit lane. He brings up the unfathomable idea of what could have happened if this kind of incident occurred during green flag pit stops.
Sammy Maggio comments that the wall Poole hit was solid concrete. Yes, so glad he’s okay and was able to walk away after that horrific scene! NASCAR has made some great gains in the world of safety. Now, let’s go a little further.
Panoz’s strongest soldier says that that could have been very ugly. Let’s not think about the potential horrors of that. Rather, let’s get the ball rolling to do something about it.
I agree, T1M, I agree.
Wayne argues that they need to remove all grass entirely from every track. It’s definitely something to think about. I mean, I like the grass, personally. It’s aesthetically pleasing. But the way Poole’s breaks locked up and he just skidded through the grass like he was on ice…that was terrifying. Glad nobody got seriously hurt. Maybe eliminating grass is a smart move for high-speed intermediates.
Daily Downforce readers! What did you think of this crash? Does NASCAR need to make swift changes to ensure that this never happens again? Let us know your thoughts and keep it right here at dailydownforce.com for all of your racing news needs.
