Last Updated on March 27, 2017 by CCAR Staff
FONTANA >> For 20 years, a retaining wall at the beginning of the backstretch at Auto Club Speedway has protected emergency workers in fire vehicles ready to spring into action if needed.
On Sunday, Matt Kenseth slammed into the concrete structure on the drivers side, the result of contact as the NASCAR field exited turn two and set up for the high speed run down the backstretch. Kenseth was unhurt in the lap 184 incident, but his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota was finished for the duration of the Auto Club 400.
Kenseth placed 36th in the 39-car field at a track he’s won three times in the spring event.
According to a Monday morning radio interview on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Steve O’Donnell, the sanctioning body’s executive vice president, indicated there will be a further review of the incident.
“We’ll download all the data, in this case from the incident data recorder; we’ll talk to Matt; we will inspect the car with all of our safety engineers and all of our safety engineers and kind of combine all that data and look at the angle and the speed and scrub and all the data to make sure that we have the best possible outcome.
“One of the things … pointed out was the angle of the wall. It’s positioned that way for the safety equipment, but are there tweaks we can make? We’ve done that numerus times in terms of you see a crash that you never thought would happen and it kind of opens some eyes. You say, ‘OK, is there a better way to potentially angle this wall?”
It is rather ironic the closer look at the wall was triggered by an incident in the 20th anniversary of NASCAR racing at the Fontana track. Although it was modeled after Michigan International Speedway (also owned by track builder Roger Penske at the time), the wall openings and angles were created by Penske and executive vice president Les Richter before track construction started.
In 1999, during a season-ending open-wheel race at the track, Greg Moore lost control coming out of turn two and sped inside the track. He went airborne once he hit the road leading out of the angled enclosure for emergency vehicles and slammed into the wall further down the backstretch.
Moore did not survive the impact and remains the only fatality in a major race at the speedway.
Big rebound
There was a very good reason Clint Bowyer sported a wide smile during his post-race press session after the fifth NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race. For the first time in 52 races, he recorded a top-five finish by following Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowki to the finish line.
It was also his fifth start for Stewart-Haas Racing. He started in the 17th spot but soon was among the leaders.
“It was just a god weekend. I appreciate everybody’s hard work at SHR,” he said. “It means a lot to me to be in the (No.) 14 (Stewart’s old car). I have a lot of fun with the guys.
“Buga (crew chief Mike Bugarewicz) and all these guys mean business.”
So does Stewart. Bowyer said after the race, there was no wild celebration for his effort from the car owner, just a “good job” comment.
“Tony wins a lot of races,” Bowyer said after equalling his best finish since Sonoma in 2015. “He’s won a lot of races. Anything less than a win, you know. … he expects that. And I love that about Tony. Obviously, I know he’s proud. He was happy with that.
“But that’s what you want in an owner. You know what I mean? To have that instilled in everything, in your DNA, I mean, this is the way I was raised.”
Bowyer actually signed with Steward in 2015 but knew it would be a while before he return to NASCAR’s elite series fulltime. He spent 2016 with now defunct Hscott Motorsports after having been released in 2015 by Micahel Waltrip Motorsports.
“It’s just the opportunity you’ve been waiting on,” Bowyer said. “Everybody knows the situation. You know, this opportunity, this is something I signed up for a year and a half ago. I’ve been champing at the bit to be with an organization like this, to have an army of people behind you like this, the teammates, the sponsors we have, the manufacturer in Ford, all of that.
“It’s the total package at Stewart-Haas Racing, which is why they’ve won a championship (2014 with Kevin Harvick) and win all these races that we see. That’s what you thrive to be a part of. Finally got my opportunity to be there.”
