‘There’s no excuse for going backward,’ Chase Elliott frustrated by the safety of Next-Gen cars


‘There’s no excuse for going backward,’ Chase Elliott frustrated by the safety of Next-Gen cars

Chase Elliiott (Images via IMAGO)

NASCAR has been facing criticism over the safety of the next-Gen cars since the start of the season. The critics’ voice started getting louder when Kurt Busch was ruled out of competition after suffering a concussion following a crash in Pocono.

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The issue is much bigger now as Alex Bowman became the second driver to suffer concussion symptoms. The HMS driver was ruled out of the Talladega race due to the injuries he sustained at Texas last Sunday. This reignited the 7th gen car safety debate.

Many former and active drivers spoke out about the car’s safety. Now Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsport teammate Chase Elliott has come forth expressing his frustration over the safety of the car. The 2020 cup champion voiced his concern about the unfortunate incidents repeating.  

Also read: NASCAR driver Jordan Anderson suffers second-degree burns after Talladega crash

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Find out what Chase Elliott said

Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott (Images via IMAGO)

Chase Elliott said that he is mind-blown by the fact that NASCAR failed to rectify the safety concerns and went backward with it though they had all the technology and experienced individuals at their disposal. He suggested that they should not have been in this position in the first place.

I don’t feel like we should have ever been in this position to need to go forward [with the car]…And it just blows me away that we can have something new in 2022 that offers all this technology and all this time and experience of so many just super talented people in this sport and we allow to go backward, especially with safety,” Chase Elliott said.  

Chase Elliott went on to say that he is surprised they have made such bad calls. He added that it’s time to rectify these mistakes. Elliott pointed out that the situation that Kurt Busch and his teammate Alex Bowman have found themself in shouldn’t be happening to anyone else.

I think it’s just super surprising to me that we allowed that to happen, but we did, and now it’s just about how do we go forward from here making sure we make the right choices to improve what we have and keep things like what happened to Alex this week from happening, and what happened to Kurt,” Chase Elliott added.

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Chase Elliott said that there aren’t any excuses for going backward on safety, conceding the time they had to crash test the cars. He said, “We had [plenty of] the time to test this car and crash it and do all the things we need to do to make sure some of these things aren’t happening that is happening now… There’s no excuse for going backward,”.

Chase Elliott reiterated that such things shouldn’t be occurring. He said, “We have too many smart people, too much technology, too many years of crashing and racing at all these same racetracks to have some of these things that are going on that are.,. When you come out with a new product, you should take steps forward, not stay the same or go backward,”.

Do you agree with Elliott?

Also read: Kevin Harvick wants NASCAR to adopt these two Formula 1 rules

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Also read: ‘Get rid of the new car,’ NASCAR Twitter reacts to Alex Bowman sitting out the Talladega cup race due to a concussion