Flip-over crashes and NASCAR go hand and hand throughout the history of the sport. Every track that NASCAR has been to has seen its fair share of ugly crashes. That is no different between Michigan International Speedway and Daytona. Corey LaJoie knows exactly how it feels as his wreck on Monday during the FireKeepers Casino 400 can attest to.
LaJoie lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet and ended up spinning and flipping over onto his roof, and sliding for several hundred feet down the backstretch. It certainly was quite a site to see his car just suddenly flip over. Shockingly it wasn’t the only flip by a race car at Michigan this past weekend as Xfinity Series driver Kyle Sieg also ended up upside down following a crash.
It had been several years since a car ended up on its roof at the two-mile oval which has put on some of the fastest speeds the sport has seen in years. These crashes certainly had some questioning what needs to be done to better stop the car from easily flipping over. LaJoie himself was one of the drivers wondering what exactly caused his No. 7 to flip.
COREY LAJOIE FLIPS AND SLIDES UPSIDE DOWN!#NASCAR | USA Network pic.twitter.com/Iyd3frqX5C
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 19, 2024
NASCAR Flip Over Crashes Continue to Evolve
Flip-over crashes have long found a way to stay a part of NASCAR racing, despite every safety measure introduced. LaJoie was thankful he was all right after getting checked and released from the care center. As someone who was there and witnessed the wreck it was crazy, to say the least.
Lajoie spoke with motorsport.com’s Nick DeeGroot about the incident.
” That was a ride buddy, ” Lajoie said. “There were sparks and dirt and all sorts of stuff coming in. I just hate that our Camaro got a little dinged up. I think we had a top 10, top 12 car today and I hate we ended up on our roof.”
How To Further Prevent These Incidents
There isn’t a true stop to cars flipping in a NASCAR crash, but sure would be great to stop these cars from flipping over like they don’t weigh anything. That’s the scariest part if you look back at any of the flips in the era of the Next-generation car. Ryan Preece’s wreck last year at Daytona was enough to remove the back-stretch grass. This time the grass wasn’t in play until the end of LaJoie’s wreck, and the grass helped his car flip back onto its wheels.
After a couple of days of reflection on the crash for Corey. He spoke with Sirius XM NASCAR radio about what happened. It appears he thinks the new air-jack system that NASCAR had implemented at Michigan to put air in the tires when they are flat may have played a hand in how easily he flipped.
Daytona’s Next So What Will NASCAR Do?
The series heads to Daytona next, and that has long been the sight of some of the sport’s biggest crashes. According to NASCAR.com, the sport will mandate a new right-side rear-window air deflector and it will first be put to use this weekend. It will be supplied by NASCAR itself, and it matches what is already run on the left-side rear window. At the least, NASCAR is taking what happened with LaJoie seriously. Then again, no matter what is done, flip-over crashes find new ways to evolve every time the sport changes something.
