How NASCAR plans to keep cars from flipping at Daytona

Following some wind tunnel testing this week, NASCAR’s sanctioning body chose to introduce and mandate an air deflector above the right-side window for all Cup cars running this weekend at Daytona. It matches an existing ‘shark fin’ on the left-side of the car, designed to make the liftoff speed higher. In essence, cars will have to be going faster to reach a point where blow-over crashes become possible.

Last weekend, Corey LaJoie spun on his own flipped down the backstretch at Michigan. The wreck was the first blow-over incident at non-superspeedway track in the Cup Series since 2010, when Brad Keselowski flipped upside down at the old version of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

John Probst executive vice president and chief development officer for NASCAR, said that the change will increase the velocity needed for the cars to lift off the ground by another 15% to 20%. The part is crucial in the early seconds of the spin when roof and hood flaps aren’t yet in full effect.

Speaking on the change, Daytona pole-sitter Michael McDowell wondered what it will do to the cars “balance-well” throughout the race.

“We got a tiny little bit of information, but even that in a wind tunnel by itself isn’t a real indicator of what it will be like in the pack,” explained McDowell. “I don’t think anybody knows. I think everybody is taking their best guesses. I don’t think it’s gonna be terribly different, but there might be some positives from it, too. We’ll see how the cars suck up. Every situation is different and that’s what’s hard about superspeedway racing as rules packages change. Sometimes you’re three-wide in the middle and the car responds like this and sometimes you’re three-wide in the middle, but a car two car lengths off of you and all of a sudden you get something completely new and you’re like, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?’

“When guys are caught off guard or just lose it, it’s because there is a situation that they haven’t been in before, so with this deflector I’m sure there will be some of that.”

William Byron, who won the Daytona 500 earlier this year, believes “it’s going to change the air somehow around the car. Any aero change does.” With no practice, these 40 drivers and teams will have to wait until they are racing on Saturday night to find out exactly how.

One year ago, Daytona was the site of another violent airborne crash where Ryan Preece flipped nearly a dozen times. It was one of the more extreme rollover crashes of the modern era, leaving Preece with bruised and bloodshot eyes. The entire backstretch has since been paved over, removing the grass where Preece flipped. LaJoie’s crash is an example of how grass can make these wrecks even worse as his car only started to dig in and roll after impacting the dirt.

The sport will never be able to get rid of airborne crashes, but no one can say the sanctioning body doesn’t jump at any opportunity to limit them.