Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie sent NASCAR engineers back to their desks after the Cup Series race in Michigan the weekend before. His No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro had gone airborne far too easily when it collided with Noah Gragson’s car and rolled over in a horrific accident. The safety department then developed a new air deflector for the right side of the cars.
NASCAR announced that the deflector had been tested in wind tunnels and that it was designed to prevent such liftoffs in the future. Just days later, the product proved useless. Stewart-Haas Racing driver Josh Berry was battling for the lead with two laps to go in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona when his Mustang was killed in a collision with Austin Cindric from behind.
Fortunately, the driver was unhurt, but the incident is a cause for great concern. Former racing driver Kenny Wallace spoke about it on his YouTube channel and expressed his views. He said: “There will be times when physics will not be able to be stopped,” and he further mentioned that he had seen a statistic that said this was the first time in NASCAR history that there had been two consecutive rollovers.
The Daytona track is where Berry’s teammate Ryan Preece rolled over and suffered a serious accident in 2023. Thanks to the resurfacing of the infield, such events were avoided this time. Wallace further analyzed the trend and noted that Michael McDowell almost suffered a similar fate after being hit by Cindric and Team Penske superstar Joey Logano.
Michael McDowell crashes heavily in Daytona
The McDowell incident occurred nine laps from the checkered flag on Saturday. He was leading the pack on the outside lane in Turn 1 when he was touched by Cindric and sent spinning. His car spun perpendicular to the track as Logano hit the driver’s door and initiated the launch. Fortunately, the car did not roll over and came back up on all four wheels.
Wallace compared the incident to a Jimmy Horton accident from the 1980s and concluded: “All I’m saying is that cars will tip over. However, it seems There’s been a lot going on lately.” McDowell had led for 26 laps before his accident and was potentially on his way to victory. Now he needs to win at Darlington to qualify for the playoffs.
He addressed and praised the track’s work on the newly repaved infield, and was confident that the judges would continue to work on improving the cars to prevent liftoffs. Logano also spoke about the incidents, but was far more downbeat than his colleagues. He suggested improving the handling of the cars or making them so they cannot be pushed as easily.
