“It’s always a moving target,” Chase Briscoe opens up about Next-Gen car’s safety ahead of the playoff’s
Follow Us
Chase Briscoe
NASCAR introduced the Next-Gen car at the beginning of the 2022 season with the main objective of making the cars more competitive, safer, and budget-friendly. With the 16 different race winners the season has produced so far, it is fair to say that NASCAR was right about the competition part, but at the same time, when assessing the safety side, some questions arise.
The 2022 season has produced more wrecks than expected, with Kurt Busch’s Pocono qualifying crash turning out to be the more critical as the 23X1 Racing veteran is still making it back to the grid after suffering a concussion. Most of the drivers who were in a crash this season have acknowledged that the impact is much harder than their past experiences, and the loose tire issues have also proven to be a big thing to be concerned about.
Chase Briscoe, the No:14 Ford Mustang driver for Stewart Hass Racing, will make his cup series playoff debut this weekend at Darlington. The youngster though they had some struggles in the past couple of weeks is a definite championship contender. And ahead of his scheduled debut, he has come forth expressing his thoughts on the safety of the Next-Gen car.
Find out what Chase Briscoe said
Chase Briscoe pointed out that he has only crashed the Next-Gen car twice this season, both of which came at superspeedways, and said that those were hard wrecks. He added that both the impacts had fewer negative outcomes than he expected and said that he expected worse in his crash at the Talledega Motor speedway, which in the end, only produced a couple of sour days for him.
“For me, I’ve only crashed the Next Gen car, truthfully, twice where I feel like it was a hard wreck, and they were both at superspeedways. Both of them were way better than I thought they were gonna be. The Talladega wreck, for sure, I thought was gonna be way worse from a feel standpoint, and I felt fine. I was sore the next day or two, but I feel like that was kind of typical,” Chase Briscoe said.
Chase Briscoe went on to say that there are things the Next-Gen cars can address to make the vehicle safer and pointed out that it will take time considering, unlike the old car, they have limited data on crashes. He added that though he believes the teams will progress towards the end of the season with car safety, it’s always going to be a moving target.
“Obviously, I think there’s still stuff we can do to make it better, but I think in the old car, there was still stuff we could do to make it better, so I think that’s the hard thing right now with the Next Gen car is with the old car we literally probably had thousands of data points that we could look at in crashes, where right now we’re not even probably in the hundreds yet, so it’s just hard to kind of pinpoint what we need to do better on this car and as it runs and as we get through the years I’m sure we’re gonna continue to make progress on it and make it better, but I think it’s always a moving target,” Chase Briscoe added.
Chase Briscoe added that there isn’t any guaranteed safety for race drivers when one is going at 200 miles per hour and says it will be better if NASACXAR is made safer. He added that NASCAR wouldn’t be sending out drivers to the track if they aren’t safe and pointed out that he didn’t have any trouble following the two crashes he suffered.
“You’re never gonna be perfectly safe; I don’t think. You’re a race car driver. You’re driving nearly 200 miles an hour, and anything can happen, but the safer we can make it, the better. I’m confident that NASCAR wouldn’t send us out there if it weren’t something that they don’t think is safe, so, yeah, can it be safer? Absolutely, but, at the same time, I do think I’ve taken two hard hits, and I’ve felt OK,” says Chase Briscoe.
Chase Briscoe went on to add that he believes the car can be safer and pointed out that it’s safe right now. However, it isn’t bulletproof, saying, “I absolutely think it could still be safer, but I think it’s safe right now at the same time, and I don’t think it’s ever gonna be bulletproof. It’s just a hard object,”.
What are your thoughts on Chase Briscoe’s opinions?
Also read: “It sucks. No way of sugar-coating it,” Martin Truex Jr. on missing out of the 2022 playoffs
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(4859 Articles Published)