Jeff Gordon to discuss safety, other topics with NASCAR
LAS VEGAS – Although he's on his way off NASCAR's big stage, Jeff Gordon remains very involved in issues impacting stock car racing.
Gordon is scheduled to meet with NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell Tuesday for a wide-ranging discussion on current events, including safety and competition issues.
"I'm looking forward to hearing a little more detail," Gordon said Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I don't want to allude to too much. I have just enough details. I prefer to have the full scope of it.
"I reached out to them, not necessarily for a meeting, to discuss some things, that (safety) being one of them. They said they'd like to share some information with me when I had a chance."
Last week, Gordon was involved in a hard crash into an uncovered interior wall at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He was uninjured.
That accident came one week after safety again became a front-burner topic when Kyle Busch broke his right leg and left foot in a hard crash into an inside concrete wall at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 21 during an Xfinity Series race.
The wall was not protected by a SAFER barrier, leading to a string of criticism from drivers and a promise by DIS president Joie Chitwood III that more so-called "soft walls" would be added to the facility in time for the July race weekend.
Gordon said at the time of his Atlanta crash: ""I don't think we can say anymore after Kyle's incident in Daytona. Everybody knows they've got to do something and it should have been done a long time ago, but all we can do now is hope they can do it as fast as they possibly can and get it done."
Now, it seems he wants more details on the timeline for such work.
Other tracks also are re-examining their layouts to determine if and where more barriers should be added. On Feb. 23, Paste BN Sports reported Talladega Superspeedway said its uncovered walls would be dealt with in time for NASCAR's visit in early May.
Atlanta installed a tire barrier just outside Turn 4 in the wake of the Busch crash.
LVMS, owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., and Phoenix International Raceway, owned by International Speedway Corp. and the site of next week's races, already have made some alterations.
"I'm realistic enough to know we can't just have it next week," said Gordon, who is racing the full Sprint Cup schedule for the final time. "I think everybody knows it's a priority, but it seems to be kind of pushed further along since Kyle's accident. Where were we before Kyle's accident? What we need to know is what the time frame is and when every wall they say needs to have a SAFER barrier will get one."
NASCAR senior vice president, chief communications officer Brett Jewkes said O'Donnell has had a series of meetings with individual drivers and that Gordon is part of that group. The meetings aren't in response to recent safety questions, Jewkes said, but rather to update and inform drivers about work and planning not only in the area of safety but also competition, qualifying procedures and other topics.
Jewkes also said officials are surveying tracks to determine which ones might need additional safety work but stressed that SAFER barriers won't be added to every speedway wall because some exposed surfaces – for example, gates – are not designed for the padding. Installation of the barriers at some locations would create hazards for other forms of racing.
SMI chief executive officer Marcus Smith said the company is accelerating work in the safety area.
"We're certainly looking into it with much more depth than we have in the last couple years," he said. "I'm glad that we have projects underway right now at New Hampshire, Kentucky and Charlotte, and we are looking at other options of where they need to be and we're making progress in that area. I'm pleased with that. Hopefully, we'll be able to speed things up to have the right kind of barriers where they need to be."
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