Corey LaJoie details the conversations
Last year, Kurt Busch backed it into the fence at Pocono Raceway in July. He left the seat due to a concussion.
Kurt Busch: Pocono Raceway (Crash Video)
NASCAR went to work, addressing the stiffness of the new Next Gen car. For 2023, bars have been removed and re-angled to add layers of crush in major impacts.
However, drivers are saying the car is still too stiff for short tracks, specifically. On short tracks, cars are rolling much slower on impact. With lesser impacts, the car crushes less.
Drivers have suggested two different clips, one for larger high-speed tracks and another for short slower-speed tracks.
However, as we’ve seen with the last change to the Next Gen chassis, it would take awhile.
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Corey LaJoie comments
“It’s not a thing where you say, ‘We just need a softer bumper.’ Cause, when you see Cody Ware wreck at Texas, that car performed just as it should have,” Corey LaJoie told Bob Pockrass.
It crushed and the motor pushed all the way back to the firewall. It crushed and that car didn’t have any more room to dissipate energy, in that particular hit.”
“Now, I’ve been a proponent, and the owners are obviously not going to want to do this. I think we do need to see a road course/short track front clip and front bumper package, that’s softer. It crushes more.”
“Then, you go to a place like Texas, fast mile-and-a-halfs, Daytona, Talladega where you need the stiffer clips for your 50G hits. But, when you go to Martinsville, you’re not going to hit 50G, you’re going to hit 20.”
“If you want to fine tune cars like that, I think that’s the next progression. We saw the rear clips, Kurt wrecked in July at Pocono. So, it took that long to implement the new rear clips.”
LaJoie added, “I don’t see that it’s going to be a short turn around for anything new.”
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