Jimmie Johnson says NASCAR might not be as fortunate next time car gets in catch fence
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson says that Sunday's crash at Talladega Superspeedway could have been much worse. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Jimmie Johnson said NASCAR might not be able to avoid tragedy if a car gets into the catch fence again as it did Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, but he doesn’t see any immediate change that might prevent a repeat incident.
Johnson was asked during a teleconference Tuesday whether too much had been made of Carl Edwards’ crash into the Talladega fence in an incident that left seven people injured from flying debris. The accident occurred when Edwards, trying to block Phoenix Racing’s Brad Keselowski heading to the finish line, spun and got slightly into the air when he was punted by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Newman.
“If Carl’s car may have been four feet higher and didn’t touch the retaining wall and solely went into the catch fence, it could have been really bad,” Johnson said. “The car could have gone through it or it would have started pulling that car apart a lot like Geoff Bodine’s truck years back [at Daytona]. So the catch fence did its job, but we will hurt a lot of people, if not worse, if cars are in the catch fence.
“We got lucky there.”
The rest of the field was able to avoid the accident as those cars were among the four that broke away from the pack on the final lap.
“Could you imagine if that was a 20-car draft and if Carl was bouncing around like he was and, for that matter, the 39 [of Newman] coming back across the track with no control of steering [after] the hard impact he took?” Johnson said. “Carl’s car could have been hit again and shot up in the air, hit in the door.
“Multiple things could have happened. Luckily they were so far ahead of the pack that he just got in the fence, the car sat down and nobody else hit him again. Hard impacts are not good, but we have a very safe environment for that. But the cars and, even the catch fence for that matter, are designed for one impact. If you get multiple impacts on the car, multiple impacts on that catch fence, we have some big problems.”
The three-time defending Sprint Cup champion said he was surprised Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing car got so high up in the air.
“It’s pretty rare to see one to get into the catch fence like that,” Johnson said. “It’s one thing for the cars to tip over, and we usually have the wrecks on the back straightaway or in the corners, and one might tip over but nothing gets up in the fence.
“That one surprised me.”
What to do? Johnson isn’t sure anything can be done to the cars or the rules.
“Years back, these big, awesome race tracks were built for speed,” Johnson said. “And in today’s racing, we can’t let the cars run unrestricted. There’s no need to let off the gas, and we all run in huge packs, and the dynamics of the race changes with the bump-drafting, the blocking, the draft in general.
“I didn’t see anybody at fault between Carl and Brad when that thing took place. … I don’t know how we fix it unless we take a bunch of tractors out there and knock down the walls, knock down the banking and make it a track where you have to let off [the throttle].”
Johnson said NASCAR can legislate bump-drafting, but that will only go so far in preventing accidents. Harsh warnings in drivers meetings and penalties won’t deter the drivers when it comes down to [time to] race, Johnson said.
“I don’t think they can control it,” Johnson said. “[NASCAR officials] can make some judgment calls and say that [move] was too aggressive and penalize people, but then they’re going to open themselves up to harsh criticism over making a call or not making a call. … All of them can talk until they’re blue in the face up there [at drivers meetings], but when we get in those cars, we’re going to race and try to get the position.
“That’s what we do. Regardless of the ass-chewing before we pull on track, you’re going to do what you have to do to win. And I just don’t see an easy solution, especially as we get more familiar with the cars. We understand how to work the draft better; we understand where and we can’t bump-draft, how aggressive we can be.”
Bump-drafting is just the nature of restrictor-plate racing right now, he said.
“[They] try to threaten us as far as aggressive driving,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of funny they say [in drivers meetings] the aggressive driving zone is all the way around the track, and we all laugh whenever they say it each week at those plate races because what are we supposed to do? Just kind of ride?
“It’s really a product of the track. The drivers’ opinion is we need to get rid of those things or make them more like Daytona where you actually have to lift at some point so you can get out of [having] those big wads of cars.”
