Daytona 500

Yes he was leading. Car behind him got loose and got into him which turned him into the wall. Just a racing incident.

It's scary when you wreck at the front of the field, you hold on tight hoping people she the wreck and avoid you.

I will add that Newman was blocking for the win, and then car racing happened. It is purely a racing incident and no one was at fault.

I get they had a few hundred yards to go to the finish line, but with it being at the front of the pack if they should have thrown the caution, that said, there was no avoiding him, and it wouldn't have mattered had they thrown it. I more selfishly didn't want Hamlin to win again. I was really hoping Newman could hold on. Most of that went out the window when Newman's car went upside down and go T-Boned but if they froze the field Blaney would have won, and that would have been okay with me.
 
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I will say Ryan woke up this morning, amazingly, in great spirits and spoke in his normal tone and humor. Amazing work by NASCAR and their R & D. They saved his life.

This is going to sound bad, and Im asking out of curiousity, what are his injuries? How the human body can go through that and still be mostly in 1 piece is incredible.
 
I will say Ryan woke up this morning, amazingly, in great spirits and spoke in his normal tone and humor. Amazing work by NASCAR and their R & D. They saved his life.

Its crazy he survived. Good for him, hope for a full recovery.
 
This is going to sound bad, and Im asking out of curiousity, what are his injuries? How the human body can go through that and still be mostly in 1 piece is incredible.

They haven't said yet.

The seats those guy are using are custom made for their body and are designed to protect them. The seats plus the other safety measures they have to have keep them pretty stable.
 
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They haven't said yet.

The seats those guy are using are custom made for their body and are designed to protect them. The seats plus the other safety measures they have to have keep them pretty stable.
Honest question that I don't understand. Used to watch a lot but have gotten busy with kids stuff and now don't keep up so maybe this is a purely dumb question. They mentioned that cars catch air more often now due to restricter plate racing, how does that cause them to go airborne more?
 
This is going to sound bad, and Im asking out of curiousity, what are his injuries? How the human body can go through that and still be mostly in 1 piece is incredible.

Out of respect for his family and himself, I will refrain from divulging right now. Honestly, last I was told he is still undergoing some tests.
 
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Whoever designs the safety features on those cars deserves a pat on the back. That's something you can't even begin to plan for and the car did its job.

Absolutely amazing feat of engineering. There's no way someone should be able to survive that type of collision.

Can you imagine designing the test for this...

"Ok, now lets drive another car into this one right at the driver. As it's flying upside down. After it's already struck a wall."
 
Yes he was leading. Car behind him got loose and got into him which turned him into the wall. Just a racing incident.

It's scary when you wreck at the front of the field, you hold on tight hoping people she the wreck and avoid you.

Thanks. But can you educate me on racing terminology-- what does 'car behind him got loose' mean?
 
Honest question that I don't understand. Used to watch a lot but have gotten busy with kids stuff and now don't keep up so maybe this is a purely dumb question. They mentioned that cars catch air more often now due to restricter plate racing, how does that cause them to go airborne more?

The restrictor plates cause the cars to have relatively the same hp and bunch them up into tight packs. This causes aerodynamics to come into play, so whenever a car gets upset from its "normal" state that air gets under the car and causes lift.
 
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Thanks. But can you educate me on racing terminology-- what does 'car behind him got loose' mean?

Loose = tail of the car coming around trying to pass the front (fish tailing)
Tight = front of the car not wanting to turn

Loose can happen from another car getting right up on your back bumper (drafting) because having a car that close behind you can pull the air off your rear spoiler thus giving you less aerodynamic downforce on the rear end of your car (giving you less rear wheel grip). This can cause the car to get loose and wiggle, and can cause you to wreck when you are going as fast as they are.
 
Loose = tail of the car coming around trying to pass the front (fish tailing)
Tight = front of the car not wanting to turn

Loose can happen from another car getting right up on your back bumper (drafting) because having a car that close behind you can pull the air off your rear spoiler thus giving you less aerodynamic downforce on the rear end of your car (giving you less rear wheel grip). This can cause the car to get loose and wiggle, and can cause you to wreck when you are going as fast as they are.
That's probably about the best description you can give.
 
Loose = tail of the car coming around trying to pass the front (fish tailing)
Tight = front of the car not wanting to turn

Loose can happen from another car getting right up on your back bumper (drafting) because having a car that close behind you can pull the air off your rear spoiler thus giving you less aerodynamic downforce on the rear end of your car (giving you less rear wheel grip). This can cause the car to get loose and wiggle, and can cause you to wreck when you are going as fast as they are.

Joey Logano mastered how to do this in the Clash and 500.
 
I'd say cut the spoiler down and get the cars off the ground that may help. Man i miss the old plate days. I liked the gurney flap days of the early 2000's but the closing rate was so high. One other thing to note is that Daytona and Dega are still pretty smooth.
 
They actually don't use restrictor plates anymore; it's a tappered spacer as of (I believe) the first Dega race last year.
 
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They actually don't use restrictor plates anymore; it's a tappered spacer as of (I believe) the first Dega race last year.

NASCAR hates the use of "restrictor plate" haha the tappered spacer is basically the same deal. Dale jr loves to thrash on that and the spoiler on his pod. IMO 2014 was the best year with the Gen 6 car.