{"id":28990,"date":"2020-02-21T20:25:43","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T02:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=28990"},"modified":"2020-02-23T10:30:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T16:30:04","slug":"nascar-friday-las-vegas-notebook-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/21\/nascar-friday-las-vegas-notebook-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Las Vegas Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Austin Dillon lauds safety of NASCAR Cup cars after Ryan Newman wreck<\/b><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 For Austin Dillon, there had to be an element of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in Ryan Newman\u2019s wreck on the frontstretch at the finish of Monday\u2019s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n

Dillon himself had suffered a similar experience in the July 2015 race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, when his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet flew into the catchfence near the start\/finish line.<\/p>\n

There was one major difference, though. Dillon climbed from his car unhurt. Newman, on the other hand, was hospitalized in serious condition and remained at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach until his release on Wednesday. For two hours after the wreck, fellow drivers endured the suspense of not knowing Newman\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it was definitely weird leaving the track, getting on the plane, and everyone on the plane I was on, my grandfather (Richard Childress) and family, sat and we said a prayer before we took off for Ryan,\u201d Dillon said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. \u201cJust the eeriness of the whole situation, with the tarps coming out and not knowing was definitely eye-opening as a driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I tore down the fence (in 2015) and walked out immediately with nothing, I definitely feel like these cars are the safest things out there. But it just goes to show you that you can be impacted in the wrong way, and it can be compromised. We\u2019re going 200 mph around each other, and sometimes force just overtakes what we know is safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy that Ryan walked away and walked out of the hospital like he did with his two girls. Man, it definitely makes you stop and think about it a little bit. I\u2019m definitely still proud of what NASCAR has been able to do for the safety of our sport, because that\u2019s probably the worst place you could possibly get hit, where he got hit. For him to be recovering already, it\u2019s just a really good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JOEY LOGANO: THE TALL GUYS GET A BREAK WITH NEXT GEN CAR<\/b><\/p>\n

Team Penske driver Joey Logano noted significant differences in the driver compartments of NASCAR\u2019s Next Gen car\u2014scheduled to be on track in 2021\u2014compared with the current Gen-6 edition.<\/p>\n

Logano tested the Next Gen car at Phoenix and found immediately that he sat lower in the car than in the current version, and that suited the 6-foot-1, 180-pound 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret,\u201d Logano said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday\u2019s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cThere\u2019s zero advantage of being tall as a race car driver. From the weight aspect or even the safety aspect, you\u2019re higher in the car, your legs are cramped up more. Obviously, you need all the space that\u2019s in the cockpit. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things when I was in the meetings about the NextGen car that I brought up is that we need to make sure we have enough room in the cockpit for a taller driver. Obviously, it\u2019s important to me, and when I drove that thing at Phoenix, just initially sitting in it, I sit quite a bit lower in that car. I have more headroom to the roll cage, which is really important.  Obviously, we see from last week (Ryan Newman\u2019s accident) why it\u2019s important to have some room up there. I was able to see plenty fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his height, Logano thinks it may be a bonus to sit lower in the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may be the advantage is that I can see a little bit more being taller, but if you\u2019re shorter, you just raise the seat up and you can see as well. Visually, no issues. I think we\u2019re sitting a little bit more toward the center of the car, which is a good thing, and then also being lower, your head is being lowered to what the roll cage is\u2014it\u2019s also a huge positive, so those are all good things.\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LVMS1_NCS_Logano_022120.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

AFTER DAYTONA WIN, NOAH GRAGSON ISN\u2019T ON THE FENCE FOR LONG<\/b><\/p>\n

With the boundless exuberance of a driver who had just won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series Race, Noah Gragson climbed the catch fence on the frontstretch at Daytona International Speedway after taking the checkered flag in last Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Racing Experience 300.<\/p>\n

As he got halfway up the overhanging fence, discretion suddenly became the better part of valor.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormal fences at these race tracks are pretty much straight up and down, but that one was inverted, so it was like leaning over the track,\u201d Gragson said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, venue for Saturday\u2019s Boyd Gaming 300 (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cI was climbing up there, and I was like, \u2018Man, if I fall, that\u2019s going to suck, that\u2019s going to be terrible, that\u2019s going to hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Cause you\u2019re pretty high up there. It\u2019s taller than any of the other fences, and the banking\u2019s going down, so if you fall, it would have hurt pretty bad. I was a little worn out. I wrapped my hand inside the fence, trying to make sure I didn\u2019t fall. I was like, \u2018Man, I don\u2019t need to get much higher. This is good for right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

SHORT STROKES<\/b><\/p>\n

The five factory Toyota entries\u2014the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones as well as the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing entry of Christopher Bell\u2014all drew 15-minute holds for first practice at Las Vegas. The infractions that led to the penalties, discovered during opening inspection, involved applying bondo to the front fenders to change the shape from the manufacturer\u2019s specifications and improve the aerodynamics of the cars\u2026<\/p>\n

Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson led final practice for Sunday\u2019s Pennzoil with a lap at 179.431 mph. He was followed by five Fords, including the No. 6 of Ross Chastain (sixth fastest), subbing for injured Ryan Newman. Chastain also led final NASCAR Xfinity Series practice in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Aric Almirola topped the speed chart in opening Cup practice with a lap at 174.654 mph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Austin Dillon lauds safety of NASCAR Cup cars after Ryan Newman wreck DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 For Austin Dillon, there had to be an element of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in Ryan Newman\u2019s wreck on the frontstretch at the finish of Monday\u2019s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Dillon himself had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":28992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[67,16],"class_list":["post-28990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-las-vegas-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LVMS1_NXS_Gragson_022120-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1760&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7xA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28990"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28995,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28990\/revisions\/28995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}