NASCAR has plenty of drama surrounding it as the Cup Series heads to the craziness that is Talladega Superspeedway. A track and race that has plenty of unknowns. Not to mention it’s almost guaranteed. to see some of the top drivers caught up in the ‘big one’. Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott have won the last two playoff races at Talladega, can one of those two once again break through?
The real question is can they avoid the carnage that awaits everyone on Sunday? NASCAR has seen a lot of vicious crashes this season, and more precisely since going to the next-gen car in 2022. Races at Daytona and Talladega just seem to double the chances of getting caught up in a massive wreck.
This season alone, flip-over crashes have been much more common. It certainly hasn’t been a fun sight to see cars getting upside down, especially by themselves. Corey Lajoie can attest, as he had a single car flip on the back stretch at Michigan in late August.
So with a wreck-heavy race expected on Sunday, what has NASCAR done to try and prevent the ugliness that has happened this season?
Talladega Awaits, Has NASCAR Done Enough to Prevent More Carnage?
Early in the week, NASCAR was looking into making some very drastic changes, especially after seeing Josh Berry’s frightening flip at Daytona during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the end of August. The sport certainly doesn’t need to see any of the 12 playoff drivers flipping over this weekend. I mean there isn’t much that can stop a car from getting over if hit just right.
NASCAR has made some significant changes leading into this weekend’s race. According to Nick DeGroot from motorsport.com NASCAR will introduce three major changes for Talladega.
Those changes include adding fabric on the right side of the roof flaps, which will block more air whenever the roof flaps come up. The second is a skirt to the bottom of the rocker panel near the base of the race car. The final addition is an extended right-side roof rail, by around two inches.
Bozi Tatarevic from road&track.com shared a diagram of the changes on his X page.
NASCAR is implementing a new 3-part solution to help prevent cars lifting off at superspeedways when sideways.
The first part is the right side roof rails being extended to 2-inches with polycarbonate material. The piece will not extended to the windshield as tested earlier. pic.twitter.com/Oi2Jsa3hJ7
— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) October 1, 2024
Drivers Push For Changes
It has been clear for the last several months, that the garage area as a whole, has been looking for something to prevent the cars from getting airborne. I mean just LaJoie and Berry’s incidents alone, made it look like the cars were made of nothing. They looked like toy cars flying through the air.
Whatever it takes to stop the cars from easily flipping, I’m all for it. If cars hit each other there isn’t much that can prevent a car from going over, but if NASCAR can limit these single-car flips, the sport will be in a better spot. Every time a single car flip happens it seems to get scarier and scarier.
Expectations for Sunday
With all the changes, hopefully, the race will be calm. No, it’s Talladega and it’s the playoffs it’s never going to be calm. I expect the sport’s best superspeedway racers to be at the front. I also expect plenty of carnage. So Sunday’s race should play out like the fall race at Talladega always does. Expect a wild finish, just based on how this 2024 season has gone. Could we get winner number 18, certainly?
