Kyle Busch walked away. Yes, he walked away angrily when the Coke Zero 400 was over, but he walked off unscathed nonetheless.
Everyone did. Not a scratch on them after another scary last-lap melee in a restrictor-plate race that resulted in cars with crumbled sheet metal and mangled steel.
This car that so many of you love to hate is the safest race car ever built.
No, it’s not pretty. It doesn’t always race well, but it is eliminating serious injuries and probably saving lives.
Saturday night’s last-lap horror was one of those moments when most sensible people watching don’t say, “Hey, look who won.” Instead, their first thought is, “My gosh, I hope everyone is OK.”
Everyone was. Had you watched that same wreck 10 years ago, the answer almost certainly would have been different.
We can’t say for sure what the outcome would have been. But without head and neck restraints and without this car, logic tells us that Busch wouldn’t have been so lucky.
He was leading with the checkered flag in sight when he veered up the track to try to block eventual winner Tony Stewart, but Busch’s No. 18 Toyota hit the front of Stewart’s car.
The impact turned Busch’s car to the right. He violently slammed head-on into the wall before hitting it hard again on the driver’s side.
A moment later, the car was hit from behind by Kasey Kahne‘s car, which still was traveling almost full speed toward the finish line.
That impact was so hard that it lifted Busch’s back wheels off the ground and almost caused the car to flip over back to front.
Busch’s car turned sideways and took another brutal impact, T-boned by Joey Logano‘s car.
“I was really concerned about Kyle,” Carl Edwards, who finished fourth as he watched Busch crash, said on the telecast. “I thought, ‘Oh, man. That’s a hard hit.’ I was real nervous for him.”
Edwards has been there. He had a similar crash on the last lap at Talladega when his car went airborne and slammed into the frontstretch catch-fencing.
Edwards was fine, but a few fans suffered minor injuries from flying debris. Avoiding a repeat of that moment was Edwards’ priority at Daytona.
“I just yanked the wheel left and drove to the grass and hoped I didn’t hit [Busch],” Edwards said. “It was a crazy, crazy finish. I thought I wanted to be up there racing with those guys. Then I saw [the wreck], and I was just fine with where I was.”
One key thing to point out: Busch did not hit the SAFER barrier. He crashed into the concrete wall a few feet before the collapsible barrier starts on the curve of the tri-oval.
The car was the difference. This car has a larger crush panel at the front, which absorbs more G-forces at impact.
The car also was a factor in Busch’s going injury-free when he was T-boned by Logano’s car.
The steering wheel and driver’s seat were moved 4 inches toward the center of the vehicle, leaving more space between the driver and side of the car. And the door panel was filled with heavy foam padding that also absorbs impact.
The old car had none of these things. So would Busch be uninjured today without those improvements?
It’s a subjective question, of course, but I doubt it.
After Dale Earnhardt‘s death at Daytona in 2001, the old car became much safer, with head and neck restraints and cocoon-like seats that better protect the drivers.
Maybe that would have been enough Saturday night. I’m betting there isn’t a single driver who would trade cars to find out.
Many Sprint Cup cars were ready for the scrap heap, a junkyard dealer’s delight after the final lap.
The drivers were tired from a typical sweltering summer night at Daytona. Considering the scattered car parts and debris, tired is good.
But is there a dark side? Some people believe the car actually causes more accidents at the plate tracks.
Dangerous crashes always have been a part of plate racing. It was true in the old car; it’s true in this one. The Car of Tomorrow, as it was called, was used at a plate track for the first time at Talladega in 2007.
“This is a product of restrictor-plate racing with these race cars,” said Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief. “What are you going to say?”
The best thing to say is thank you to the men who designed this car. Addington’s driver is a healthy man today because of it.
