...maybe "phoniness" isn't the right word, maybe "disengenous?"

I don't know what you call it, but whatever it is, it stinks, and is another speed ramp to NASCAR losing what little integrity that us old hold outs were hoping that still might be in place....

I just got around to watching this past Sunday's Cup race at Nashville...  Ryan Blaney gets spun down into the infield on a restart...  His car slides through the grass... and ended up going squarely into the infield wall just past pit lane.  It wasn't a high speed hit, but it was a brutal hit.  Something that I'll bet anyone of us would have instantly been concerned about the driver's safety, and something that I am evenly sure that all of us would have immediately noticed the lack of a safer barrier where the impact was made.

I continued to watch, as fortunately Ryan Blaney was able to get out of the car on his own power (although dropping to his knees for a while)... and I keep wondering why no safer barrier....  And then I kept waiting to hear any of the announcers (Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, and Rick Allen) add their thoughts of the very obvious point, that there was no safer barrier.

Nothing.... No mention of that there was no safer barrier where impact occured.

They even went into a very well pre-produced, well messaged piece about how great a job NASCAR has done to make the cars safer, including high tech computer generated images to show the recently added crush zones....  but still no mention of a lack of a safer barrier in a place that was well within striking range of the drivers... Ryan proved that.

I know... I know...  Nobody in the booth wants to loose their job... 

The guys in the booth... Oh boy.... Here's the problem...  We're all supposed to listen to them, the experts... our host... for 4 hours... dependent on every word they say to keep us informed of what we're going to see... what we are seeing... and what we just saw... They know the ins and outs of every facet of the sport... and the way NASCAR has it figured I guess, is that we're all just part of the grazing herd..... You know... "Nothing to see here folks... just keep your head down and take a few steps forward every so often... unless we tell you do otherwise...."  None of them (not even Dale Jr who I'm a big fan of as I think many out there are too) would dare mention the lack of a safer barrier at what would have been the appropriate/obvious time to mention it. 

I have to imagine that as it was happening, all of them were thinking the same thing as any experience race fan who was watching was thinking which was "Why no F'n barrier?"...  but nothing but crickets and diversion by those in the booth.  Did they all make a pact not to say something in the moment, or is there just such a heavy hand always overhead that they all knew to ignore the obvious, and to immediately find something else to focus on... anything else... just along as it wasn't about the lack of a safer barrier?

When they interviewed Ryan when he was released from the infield care center, somewhere quickly after saying that was the hardest hit he has ever taken in a race car, he mentioned the fact that there was no safer barrier.  Seems Ryan thought it was something that warranted being noticed (even if the experts in the booth didn't.)

Dale, Jeff, Steve and the other guy....  I'm sure their jobs are still secure as the circus moves to the next stop, but they lost a lot of credibility with the phoney/disengenous way they put the needs of "NASCAR First" above the need to have honesty and integrity in reporting what they were seeing as they saw it...and as those of us who still hold out for moments of integrity were maybe hoping for.... as rare as those moments have become.

Nascar yesterday did put out a statement they were concerned with that section. It was on NASCAR.com. 

Racecars always find race track flaws!

Of course they did... Something had to be said.  You can't ignore something like that unless your job depends on doing some shilling while in the booth for Nascar. 

My point was that it was obvious that something should have been said by Dale, Steve, Jeff or the other guy right when it happened.  The fact that they didn't was actually kind of awkward, and didn't do anything for their credibility. 

Here's how it was covered when it happened... Jeff Burton even talks about energy being absorbed, but somehow forgets to mention anything about how a safer barrier would have helped to absorb some of that energy:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPKSXZIN26Y

Now it's a safe topic (no pun intended), now that Nascar has weighed in.  I'm sure they'll talk about it this week on all the Nascar shows, and will talk about it next weekend pre-race, etc., now that Nascar has given the direction as to how it is to be handled.  It's safe alright... but if one wants to stay employed, they'll be sure to present it in a way that Nascar comes out as the champion of safety and not a huge organization who one would have thought has the resources to have identified the issue problem before it became one.

Nascar doesn't want their drivers getting hurt - I get it.  But wrecks are a big part of their current offering (just watch the promo's for upcoming events) so the least they can do is put safer barriers where needed at all tracks where their events are held. 

Tracks have flaws and it doesn't take accidents and injuries or worse to identify most of them.  I'll bet if you or I were sitting in the stands near the end of pit lane at Nashville, and could see that inside wall just past the end of pit lane, one of us would have noticed the lack of a safer barrier.  I would have, and I'm no safety engineer.

Back to the original point which is, having the boys in the booth going silent on an something that was pretty obvious doesn't help the sport, especially for those of us that question the level of integrity that still exists on a sport that still trades off of having been built on it.

Well said Joe. Half the time I turn the volume off and the other half I fast forward. I have trouble listening to the Nascar announcers for that very reason. They just want the Nascar money.

A little off topic but Larry McReynolyds has been screaming at the top of his lungs on NASCAR.com about getting rid of the grass in the tri oval section of the speedways because it causes flips. 

Just curious......is it the sanctioning body or the speedway owners responsible for the safer barriers?

According to Jordan Bianchi (Nascar reporter ) for (The Atheletic)Safer Barrier installation is required by track owners 

If you think last week was bad watch this weekends street race . No safer barriers there. Maybe no one will see it through the smoke anyway. NASCAR better hope the Windy City lives up to its name and gets that smoke moving out. Yesterday it had the worst air quality in the world. Let's see Jersey barriers and smoke what could possibly go wrong. 

To your point Paintman/others, I'm not sure who actually holds the hammer and who holds the nail, but something tells me that if Nascar wanted safer barriers to be added in certain spots, they'd be heard, PRIOR TO THE EVENT, and it'd get done. 

It's really a separate discussion when it comes to who should have spotted the potential issue before it became an issue/who is responsible for actually installing the safer barriers, so that something could have been done prior to Ryan Blaney's real time demonstration.

Again... as I said earlier (geez... now I sound like Clint Boyer....)  The main point I was raising was the awkward "Silence of the Announcers" at what was an obvious situation that should have immediately been part of the discussion... and the follow up thought that if I can't trust them to have integrity, then I have a problem with the rest of what they have to say.

For a track that was built the same year Dale Sr. got killed. They should have addressed all safety concerns. Didn't watch the race but saw the video of the wreck on Monday. That track is boring to watch a race at on T.V. after watching parts of the truck race. They should use the Nashville Fairgrounds instead. 

Speaking of Chicago, there's a 40% chance of rain Sunday and low temperatures. You do not want to be there when it's hot.  

Bullet Proof Glass and steel plate armored doors to get through this event safely...

I recall some years back that the safer wall cost was just shy of $300.oo per foot. and the track had to write the check.

Like they didn't learn anything from Kyle Busch at Daytona several years ago.

Along with adding SAFER barriers, I think it's time to get rid of any grass in the infield.  Pave the whole thing, and paint it green if you must, but I think grass infields have seen their day; they just don't provide any traction to an out of control racecar sliding down the track.  ( keep in mind that Indy only has SAFER barriers in the turns.)

We've had a little over 600 folks (unique IP addresses so that means 600 different folks/different computers) viewed the first post of this particular thread. 

We've had 10 people respond to it and pretty much 8 of them went in the direction of safer barriers, and who installs them/other, when the main point I was raising was how the guys in the booth didn't say a word when it was obvious that something coulda/shoulda been said....

So here's the question:  Did any of you guys actually watch the race, and specifically were any of watching it as it happened so that you got the same experience that I did on how it was handled (or more accurately not handled) by the boys in the booth?

Just curious because it seems like nobody else except Freddy D actually "experienced" what I'm talking about, as it happened, or maybe there are some out there that felt that the silence of the guys in the booth was appropriate?

Either way, thank  you to those who gave their opinion/contributed to the thread. 

Rick Allen said "there weren't any safer barriers were Blaney hit",but Steve Latarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr both questioned why there wasn't some type of cushion there whether it be safer barriers,tires or water containers.The NBC broadcast booth does a good job of questioning things when they should or shouldn't happen.Fox coverage is just the opposite.

i go back to the good ole day of richard, david dale sr coo coo baker when it meant something. now i can tell you i have not watched a race in over 4 years and i will not watch something that was so good turned in to a circus period!!!! i really dont understand why you all watch it knowing what you are gonna get then complain about it. nascrap does not care about the fans they made that clear.  as far as i am concernded they can stick naccar where the sun dont shine. i dont miss it one bit not at all this from soneone who never missed a race.

I watched the race and thought the same thing as why there was no safer barrier. Well here is my thoughts. This track was shut down for years and money was needed to fix the place up. Fan comfort and such take a priority over driver safety as the look at probability and cost and weigh the odds. Safer barrier the last I heard was 400 dollars a foot. I understand that California speedway has lots for sale now but that cost money also. There are companies that do safety inspections as the just did at the Nashville fairgrounds however once a problem is found and put in writing if no action is taken and someone is hurt or dies you are liable. Should that barrier been there and the track owners and suits know it, shame on them. As far as the guys in the booth you only bite the hand that feeds you so hard. Sometimes pictures speak louder than words. 

I gotta give two thumb up to Dale Jr (and to those who pointed it out to me) that he did say that it was a concrete wall where impact happened, and that they have been putting up safer barriers, but cars still find those places...   I'm not sure how I missed it after watching the replay. and yea, they definitely didn't dwell on it (I don't think the lack of a barrier was mentioned after that once), but I gotta go say that they (Dale Jr) did say it, so as far as I'm concerned, he called it as he saw it, and had a sincere reaction that I think most fans did as soon as they saw the crash too.  Good job Dale Jr.

Thanks to Gordon1 for pointing out that it was mentioned on the broadcast, and to everyone who participated in this thread for the other thoughts it generated.

A spin off discussion (no pun intended) could be that when we go to a track, whether a local Saturday night deal, or a bigger venue, if we see something that's really unsafe (for participants and/or for spectators) and should be brought to somebody's attention, stop by the speedway office, or utilize whatever on line offering they have to get your comment to them.  It may be something that they are already aware of, but there's always a chance that is something that nobody had ever noticed before.... It may or may not be addressed, but I guess if you think about it, if it was something they didn't know about, and we didn't find a way to get the information to those in charge, we're really not helping to improve things either.