Denny Hamlin Slams Former NASCAR Driver & Executive’s “Sh*t Take” on Next Gen Safety Concerns

On the back of Alex Bowman electing to sit out of the Talladega race, prioritising his health, there has been a huge backlash. This backlash is against NASCAR for not listening to the drivers on the subject of safety. Very recently, NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan assured us that the sport was doing all it can to protect the drivers. However, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was not convinced, especially with Bowman and Kurt Busch as examples.

Gaughan said, “I’ve heard people say that the hits seem like they’re harder. I know it can’t be any harder than hitting concrete walls with cars that didn’t have any flex on them back in the late 90s or early 2000s. I promise you, the hits aren’t harder than that, the soft wall and the crushable impact. So, find what it is, is it the seats that have to be redesigned a different way? Is there something with the way we’re mounting the seat belts?”

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What else did Gaughan say and how did Denny Hamlin react?

Of course, Gaughan did confess that he has not driven the Next Gen car and he hasn’t crashed in one yet. However, he still insisted that the hits were not as hard as what the other drivers were making it out to be. This was actually a far cry from the 1999 season at the Phoenix Raceway, where there were concrete walls and no crushable impact.

According to him, safety is constantly in a state of evolution. During his time, the cars had a single aluminium headrest that the drivers moved out of the way. This would be done so that it did not touch the head during crashes. Considering how long he had been in the sport, NASCAR has come a long way.

He even said that NASCAR has to keep learning to evolve. This is why Gaughan is confident that they will find the ‘chink in the armor’. However, despite all this, Hamlin disagreed with Gaughan’s notion that the hits are not as hard as he believes. Considering that Bowman and Kurt Busch got concussions after accidents, Hamlin may have a point.

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