Another NASCAR driver associated with concussion-like symptoms before crash due to Talladega fuel economy

NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman will sit out this weekend’s race in Talladega after a collision at Texas Motor Speedway left him with concussion-like symptoms. He joins a growing list of riders with similar injuries behind the wheel of NASCAR’s new Next-Gen machine – which is an extremely bad sign right before one of those crash-prone races. most touching of the year.

At the TMS race last weekend, Bowman was running in eighth place in the first leg of the race when a tire burst, sending him back against a wall.

While the crash didn’t look terrible, those looks were a problem. Serious areas have been reduced in these Next Generation cars; In the past, an accident like this could have involved an entire car, as the energy of the collision would have been dissipated when the bodywork was broken. Now, the effects are bothering the drivers.

Bowman said on the radio that it was “the hardest thing I’ve dropped anything in my entire life.” His concussion-like symptoms after the event will now side him for Talladega.

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Bowman isn’t the only driver to suffer a head injury this season, though. Kurt Busch’s qualifying crash at Pocono this summer has left him sidelined for the past 10 races, and it’s not clear when — or if — he’ll get back in the car this year.

Kevin Harvick has also voiced his concerns, as reported in RACER:

“I think when you look at the things that happened with the crash, I think these are the exact concerns the drivers have had from the first day we saw the car,” Harvick said. “There hasn’t been much progress other than we’ve changed some of the content of the rear clip; we have changed some impact content. But these cars don’t crash like other cars. They are violent effects and they feel a lot different than what g-load crash data is. It goes straight through the driver’s body.”

[…]

Harvick emphasizes that no one but drivers understands how bad a crash can be. He said there was a time when there was an entire extension on the HANS device after a driver crashed into the back of another vehicle during a restart.

“And it took you a second to really realize that your hood wasn’t extended and the ductwork was still in there and things happened,” Harvick said. “I don’t think anyone really understands, except for the drivers who hit something, the violence happening in the car.”

So while Next-Gen cars have come with a safe look and some stable bodywork, there’s still a lot going on in the cockpit.

As Harvick said above, there have been safety concerns since the dawn of the Next-Gen car. Jalopnik reported on rumors circulating on social media regarding the “death” of crash test dummies used in Next Generation crash tests.

While NASCAR staunchly denied those claims by noting that the dummy was “on behalf of” following the crash, and that driver Chase Briscoe deleted his Reddit comment confirming the dummy was “dead.” , the structural safety of the cars is still in question.

You don’t have to look far to find it. At the Texas Motor Speedway race last weekend, a blown tire resulted in a record number of warnings during the race, and accumulation of tire rubber caused a fire. When it comes to collisions, it seems that collisions on the latter are particularly dangerous, with multiple drivers complains of pain and stinging after a rear impact. It has resulted in two Playoff-eligible drivers being sidelined for key laps that could lead them to the Cup Series championship.

That these issues are starting a race at Talladega is also being concerned. This track is known for causing “The Big One”, or multiple large, multi-car crashes that can collect a significant portion of the course in one go – and that certainly means we’ll saw several drivers in rear-end collisions and possibly, additional injuries.

Number 48 will be driven by Noah Gragson this weekend in Talladega.