A big portion of the reason for adopting the Next-Gen cars was to ensure the safety of the drivers. However, after the incident that put Corey LaJoie upside down while the car scraped its way to the grass, it started to raise questions about whether NASCAR had achieved anything with the new safety parameters. Adding hood flaps to the car came into play with the 6th generation of cars in the sport, and despite the added effort, the world had a scare at the last race in Michigan.

Although Corey LaJoie’s car flipped the right way and he walked out without any major injuries, many have started to question if NASCAR has done enough to prevent such incidents. Kaitlyn Vincie, the co-host, asked Kevin Harvick a question on NASCAR’s YouTube channel when he returned from his vacation to Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.

The crew was discussing LaJoie’s car flip, and that raised a question in Vincie’s mind as she asked, “What goes through your mind as a driver in those situations? Because that’s a pretty violent, just kind of shocking, incident we saw there. I mean, I guess maybe you’re not really thinking about much, just waiting for it to end.”

To this the former driver responded, saying, “Yeah, well, the first thing I will say is this car—I think you expect it more than you would have in the old car—just because this car is so edgy.”

Harvick explained how drivers would face spinouts and there will be potential moments like LaJoie went through before saying, “You know the wrecks are going to hurt worse; you’re going to have moments like Denny Hamlin has, and these guys are getting out of these cars—they’re not really surprised anymore because it’s part of the Next-Gen car.” According to Harvick, there are still a lot of problems with the new generation of cars that need to be worked on, and he continued to announce that NACAR will not be happy with what happened with LaJoie.

What did NASCAR do about Corey LaJoie’s car flipping on its top?

Kevin Harvick revealed that NASCAR officials took the car to the R&D Center to figure out how to avoid such incidents. The topic of roof flaps came into the picture as he explained that they were invented as a solution to keep cars on the ground. If we look at what happened with Corey LaJoie, it’s noticed that the contact between the cars was minimal, and after turning just a little, the car was launched into the air and on its roof.

Explaining the other measures that NASCAR took to prevent such incidents from happening, Harvick mentioned, “When you see that car take off, the roof flaps are already deployed, so there’s something about the angle that the car was at and the speed it was going. And you’ve got to remember, these cars are 15-20 mph slower than the old cars used to be in Michigan.”

The reduced speeds should have avoided the degree of the crash, however, it will come down to understanding the angle that lifted the car and finding a solution to that.

With that, Harvick lays down what went wrong for Corey LaJoie at Michigan and what NASCAR is doing about it. Do you think that this will lead to a safer experience in the upcoming race? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.