DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America photo —
Following the rain-delayed, late-night-into-early-morning Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, the buzz was not over the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had just returned to victory lane in the sport’s summer spectacular for the first time since 2001.
Instead, drivers were focused on the aspect of safety — made all too real and present once again after a stunning and violent crash just past the checkered flag that saw Austin Dillon’s car launch over two rows of cars and land roof-first in the catch fencing at the exit of the tri-oval.
While Dillon amazingly walked away unhurt, 13 fans were reported to have minor injuries by the Speedway in the early hours of Monday morning. Only one needed to be transported to a local hospital, and that fan was said to be in stable condition as of the most recent statement from the track.
Meanwhile, Dillon and his peers all had strikingly similar opinions regarding the accident — all in agreement that the safety equipment and catch fence did the jobs they were designed to do but stunned at the calamity that continues to reign in modern-day restrictor plate racing.
The 25-year-old driver, in his second season driving for grandfather Richard Childress, said that he ended up with a banged up arm and bruised tailbone, but was otherwise uninjured and surprisingly cool for what he went through on track.
“Coming to the checkered there, I thought we had a pretty good run going with Jeff, and I think Denny said the 4 [of Kevin Harvick] turned him … and after that it was just crazy.”
“We were unfortunate but fortunate in the fact that the good Lord was looking at me and keeping me safe. … The safety [innovations] that NASCAR has [made] for the race car [are] obviously pretty awesome. I’ve got a bruised tailbone and a little bit of a bruise to my forearm, but everything else feels fine. I don’t have a headache or anything like that, [so I’ll go] ice up and get ready for Kentucky.”
“It was unbelievable,” expressed Hillman Smith Racing’s Landon Cassill about the wreck. “It’s just really tight racing and you can’t drive over the left rear of people. They wreck every time and that’s what happens.”
“It just looked like the 11 was fighting for space and [Harvick] either ran him over or Denny [Hamlin] came down on him, one or the other. That left rear combination just doesn’t work. That’s what causes wrecks here. It’s fun racing — it’s quite a show — but it’s scary, that’s for sure.”
Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson said that he was “shocked that Austin Dillon is even alive” after what the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet went through.
“It’s remarkable,” Johnson said. “I saw it in the mirror, and man, I expected the worst when I came back around. I mean, the front snout [of the car] is completely ripped off and the engine’s laying out there. I can’t believe it still.”
“We’ve done a nice job of protecting the drivers,” the two-time Daytona 500 winner added of his thoughts on the current state of safety in the sport. “When you have debris that gets in the grandstands, though, it’s tough — and then if you get another car that goes tumbling, the fence is down — so you’ve got some situations that still need to be addressed. We can be better, but it is great to have the focus of NASCAR, our tracks and even our teams all on making these cars safer. Everybody’s working in the right direction, we’re just not quite there yet. We’ve come a long way though.”
“[That was] chaos,” Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon exclaimed. “It’s crazy. I’m so glad Austin Dillon is okay. That’s a violent, violent wreck. You always know it’s going to be crazy [at Daytona]. Right from the start, I thought it was a wild race. There was a lot of action and a lot of crazy stuff going on.”
“It’s literally like a video game out there these days, except it’s real life,” Gordon added of racing 200 mph in the pack at Daytona. “Again, it’s crazy.”
Dillon agreed with Gordon’s description of the racing late in the race.
“It definitely is a video game. With three to go, you are just going to push somebody until the end of the race. It’s wreckers or checkers,” the RCR driver explained. “It’s like ‘Talladega Nights’ out there. So it takes a lot of confidence and just staying into the gas is tough. It is a tough sport and it’s what racing is about and it is why NASCAR has been here for so long.”
So, if danger is what the sport is about, is there anything more that can be done to minimize the risk? Johnson argues that aspect of NASCAR racing is unavoidable.
“It’s a part of our sport,” Johnson said of the inevitable danger of racing at 200 mph. “It was real interesting, though, to watch the playback and to see how the 3 [of Dillon got airborne.] I just thought he was backwards and that’s why the car took off, but to see that there was a little contact with the front of the 11 car and that’s what sent it into the air was surprising.”
“The fact that the car just climbed altitude like it did and went in the fence — I’ve never seen anything like it, honestly. With how fast [the car] stopped, I’m happy to know that Austin’s okay. Just a scary, scary moment and I saw it all take place in the mirror. It hit me hard. I thought something really, really bad had happened for a few minutes there.”
“I think the catchfence did exactly what it was designed to do,” added Denny Hamlin, the first car to go around and the car that ultimately sent Dillon flying through the air. “It kept the car in the racetrack, which is good. I think everything went as well as it could have [in that situation] and NASCAR and this track have done a really good job at stepping up their safety efforts.”
“Any time you get one of these cars turned around backwards at the speeds that we’re running, there’s going to be lift. We’re going to get these cars in the air [when that happens.] It’s just part of physics. But no, I think everything did it’s job and I’m glad to see that.”
Dillon says that though he walked away, there will be other incidents, and that he is simply thankful that his didn’t end with a much different outcome.
“No matter how safe we can make the sport, when you are going that amount of speed, things happen,” Dillon reminded the media. “It’s just how it is.”
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
