In the wake of a heavy front-end impact for Christopher Bell, a section of the inside wall at Talladega Superspeedway will be modified before NASCAR returns in October.
Senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis confirmed the decision was made to prevent the wall from jutting out as it was during Sunday‘s 500-mile race at the 2.66-mile oval.
“That wall will be corrected before we return in the fall,” Ellis said on the new episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “They’re going to take that lip out and straighten the wall as well that leads into that area.”
Bell said he felt “really good” after the wicked crash, crediting his HANS and cockpit safety devices with helping cushion the collision of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with the SAFER barrier.
NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde said the wall was angled at roughly a 5-degree angle because of an access road where several emergency vehicles are stationed for fast response to wrecks on the backstretch.
“Making it more of a straight edge should help as far as the significance of these wrecks,” Forde said. …
The Talladega post-race disqualifications of runner-up Ryan Preece and fifth-place finisher Joey Logano also were discussed during the podcast. Neither penalty was appealed.
Forde said Preece‘s team added a third shim to adjust the No. 60‘s spoiler to a correct angle after being out of compliance in pre-race inspection. The NASCAR Rule Book allows for only two spoiler shims at superspeedways. Though the infraction occurred Friday, the violation was caught during post-race inspection.
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“We don’t watch what they do when they try to fix the car once they fail (inspection) and go back to the garage,” Forde said. “It is one of the rare examples where this was an honest mistake … and so this is one of those where they didn’t do it for a competitive advantage per se. They did it because they were probably looking for a competitive advantage pre-race going into inspection and hoping that spoiler would get through.”
Other topics covered during the 12th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— Safety incidents in the pits and how NASCAR uses painted lines to determine if violations were committed;
— Why Talladega‘s 18-sector pit road might have contributed to 10 speeding penalties being called;
— Would NASCAR make any adjustments to reduce the likelihood of drivers crashing when entering the pits for green-flag stops?;
— The current state and future of fuel-conservation races at Daytona and Talladega;
— NASCAR‘s position on offering teams the chance to run the All-Star Race with less restrictive regulations.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the new “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
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