Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR this week:
Turn 1: Should NASCAR have its own traveling safety team like the IndyCar Series?
Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: I do not think it’s as big a priority as focusing on the racetrack and covering up every inch of concrete with SAFER barrier. Having been airlifted from the track twice in my career, I am comfortable with the support NASCAR drivers have. Perhaps a traveling medical team makes sense in the future. But currently, it is not the weakest link in the safety profile.
Ryan McGee, ESPN.com: Yes. I have long commended the job that local rescue squads have done at NASCAR tracks. I’ve got friends on those teams at multiple tracks. But I’ve also seen so many instances when traveling safety teams in IndyCar and NHRA have been able to make life-saving decisions based on their familiarity with the competitors. As the cars get faster and the crashes more violent, I think this need will only increase. I compare it to athletic trainers and medical staff for professional stick-and-ball teams and even college sports. There is not just a speediness in response but there’s also a comfort for the injured, especially in really rough, traumatic situations, that the people out there with him don’t have to look up a medical chart. They already know everything about the racer they are saving. At Indy, you could see that comfort on both sides, during a situation as brutal as Sebastian Saavedra being pulled from his car with leg injuries and even after Tony Kanaan‘s relatively benign crash. The exchange between TK and the safety team was clearly between people who are friends.
John Oreovicz, ESPN.com: Yes. Although it is important to have locally based medical and rescue workers at every track, nothing is better than having a consistent group of trained responders with the specific knowledge and skills needed to stabilize injured drivers and extricate them from a damaged car. This practice was pioneered in Formula One and Indy cars nearly 40 years ago, and having that kind of specialized response capability on site within seconds probably saved James Hinchcliffe’s life last week when he crashed at Indianapolis. NASCAR and its teams employ specialists to check and maintain almost every individual function on the car; why wouldn’t the series insist on having the very best rescue and response people on site every time cars are on track?
Bob Pockrass, ESPN.com: It might not have to carbon-copy the IndyCar Series, but a core set of trauma doctors and orthopedic surgeons who travel the circuit and have knowledge of the impacts in NASCAR crashes and what injuries to look for would serve NASCAR well. Considering what has happened on pit road in recent weeks, a burn specialist should be added to that list. The 2001 CART race postponement because of dangerous G-forces as well as the saving of the life of Alex Zanardi and possibly the life of Hinchcliffe all serve as examples of how the IndyCar system works. Granted, no NASCAR national series driver has publicly criticized his care and Kyle Busch had no problem with the response at Daytona, but the confidence in their safety team that IndyCar drivers exude speaks volumes. They exude confidence because they know the doctors.
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Marty Smith, ESPN Insider:
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Turn 2: What race is your favorite to watch each year?
Craven: Without question my two favorite races to watch are at Martinsville. The track brings the best and worst out of drivers. It represents the purest form of NASCAR racing, basically where and how we all got our start. We should have at least two more half-mile tracks on the schedule, one being in the Northwest.
McGee: I love so many races and so many places, but in the end I am always a sucker for history. That’s why I love places like Darlington, Martinsville and even Milwaukee. However, nothing tops the 500s of Daytona and Indianapolis. When I’m retired and no longer getting paid to go to races, I feel like I’ll still be drawn to both of those events. But when it comes to history, even Daytona can’t hang with Indy.
Oreovicz: I have a feeling I would really enjoy watching the Indianapolis 500, but in my lifetime, I have never had the opportunity to experience that race on live television. It is by far the most exciting race to attend in person. My favorite NASCAR races on TV are the road races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen — lots more scenery than the usual ovals and plenty of slam-bang action. My all-time favorite for walking the track and watching from every corner? The Bathurst 1000.
Pockrass: The Indianapolis 500. It’s the first big race I ever went to as a kid and the first big race I ever covered. Nothing can match the spectacle nor the speed in the corners. On the NASCAR side, the regular-season finale at Richmond has drama. Complemented by the driver ability to make passes for 400 laps, the dynamics of that race create a fun night, watching not just the leader but the others who have their seasons on the line.
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Smith:
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Turn 3: It seems as if Martin Truex Jr. will make the Chase on points. Will he have a win or more before the Chase begins?
Craven: Martin Truex Jr. will have two or three wins or zero wins, because ending a winless streak roughly two years long can be challenging mentally. Had he won in the first month of the season, the wins might be adding up now, as he and the No. 78 team have performed very well to date. It’s a matter of closing the deal — and being fast. Leading laps helps, but if you get close without winning too often, and for too long, it can have a reverse effect as the season goes along and actually create frustration for a team. As for my prediction? I’m going with two wins before the Chase.
McGee:I think he will win, and I think there’s a great chance it will happen this weekend at his home track.
Oreovicz: It sure looks that way. When you run up front as consistently and as often as Truex and Furniture Row Racing have this year, a win is eventually going to fall your way. Maybe even more than one. In any case, the No. 78 is certainly functioning as Richard Childress Racing’s lead team this year.
Pockrass: Yes. Truex will win. It could even come this weekend at Dover, the site of his first one. He has led too many laps and has had the best car the past two points races. A race eventually will fall his way.
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Smith:
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Turn 4: Does the Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the All-Star Race and the 600 show that it has caught the top teams? Or was it all track position and fuel mileage smoke and mirrors?
Craven: Both wins legitimize Gibbs as being championship-worthy. Three of the team’s four drivers have qualified for the Chase, and Matt Kenseth told me last week that “This is the closest the organization has been in a while” in terms of competing for wins week in and week out. These guys remain a half-step behind Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Truex, but the gap is closing.
McGee: Somewhere in the middle. You have to be in position to make the calls that won the race, so the team certainly has made up some ground, but there’s also still clearly a ways to go. I give this team all the credit in the world for having three cars in the Chase and most likely a fourth. But it’s a good thing it got those three in early. JGR needs to spend the summer getting its programs up to speed.
Oreovicz: With Carl Edwards in Victory Lane, 104 total laps led and four cars in the top eleven, it can’t all be smoke and mirrors, can it? Then again, the 600 does have a history of surprising or unusual results. I don’t think we’ll get a true read on JGR’s competitiveness until its top driver, Kyle Busch, returns to full strength. The team has already placed Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kenseth in the Chase, and Busch has a pretty decent chance of joining them if he can avoid any catastrophic finishes in the 40s. Gibbs probably hasn’t caught the top teams yet but is definitely showing some momentum and getting closer.
Pockrass: JGR led 104 laps at Charlotte — 104 more laps than the entire Hendrick Motorsports stable — but Truex and Kurt Busch still appeared to be the class of the field. When JGR leads a significant number of laps because it has the fastest cars for consecutive weeks at intermediate tracks, it can confidently feel as if it has caught the top teams.
