Posted 04/28 at 01:30 PM (0) Comments

NASCAR brass told reporters Monday that they do not expect to make any changes to Talladega Superspeedway, basically saying it’s safe as it is.

Maybe it is. But from what I saw, Carl Edwards’ flying Ford came dangerously close to scaling the retaining fence and soaring into a packed grandstand. But the fence held and gravity pulled the car back to the asphalt.

I do wonder, though ... what if Edwards’ car began its ascension five feet closer to the fence and wall than it did? Indeed, it ricocheted off of Ryan Newman’s Chevy and began to drift downward as it struck the fence. But if the initial contact with Brad Keselowski were five feet closer to the wall, would that car have been on the way down when it made contact with the fence? And if so, how would the fence reacted? I really don’t know. In all likelihood, a car will not flip into the stands at Talladega. But I’d hate to take a haughty approach and deny such an event could occur.

Quoting NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter, “One of our primary goals over the years is to build a retaining fence that keeps the cars and parts and pieces out of the spectator areas. Nothing is bullet proof. The retaining fence did what it’s supposed to do.“

Hunter is correct on all counts. The retaining fence did what it’s supposed to do. But isn’t that reactive thinking? Why not take a pro-active stance and say something like, “We are going to make sure the retaining fence does what it’s supposed to do in the future?“

Too often NASCAR has reacted to a situation, which obviously is better than doing nothing. But it’s time NASCAR took steps ahead of a situation than following in the footsteps afterward.

Raise the fence.