Wild, weird day at Daytona lowlighted by Busch injury

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - An already bizarre and drama-filled Speedweeks got even crazier on Saturday with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

A wreck with seven laps remaining took out 10 cars, and along with it one of the top drivers in the sport. Kyle Busch was collected, sent spinning into the inside wall, slamming into it head-on in a stretch of wall without the SAFER barrier.

Busch was put in an air cast at the scene and then taken to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance, where it was found he suffered a compound fracture on his right lower leg and a left mid-foot fracture. The injuries will sideline him indefinitely, including the Daytona 500. Matt Crafton was named as his replacement for Sunday, but beyond that is to be determined. His injury reignited a long-standing debate about SAFER barriers, and left Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood taking the blame after the race.

'The Daytona International Speedway did not live up to its responsibility today. We should've had SAFER barrier there,” Chitwood said. 'We did not. We're going to fix that. We're going to fix that right now.

'This is not going to happen again. We're going to live up to our responsibility. We're going to fix this and it starts right now.”

Chitwood said his team went out to the stretch of wall where Busch hit, and they have planned to install tire packs along that stretch to act as a temporary SAFER substitute until the actual SAFER barrier can be installed.

After that, it's going everywhere.

'Following (the Daytona 500), the Daytona International Speedway is going to install SAFER barrier on every inch at this property,” Chitwood said.

From NASCAR's perspective, Executive Vice President Steve O'Donnell was there to echo Chitwood and encourage the installation of the barriers. He said safety remains the sport's No. 1 priority.

The SAFER barrier debate has centered on NASCAR going to tracks where the barrier was not installed on every inch of every wall at each venue. O'Donnell said the sanctioning body and the tracks have been advised in the past that it would actually be unwise to install them in certain places at various tracks.

But in light of another nasty hit, this time one that seriously injured a driver - a star driver, at that - NASCAR will take another close look at all its venues.

'We always have those conversations with the racetracks. The racetracks know that and work together with us on the SAFER barrier recommendations,” O'Donnell said. 'What we've said here tonight is we will accelerate those talks with the tracks. We want this sport to be as safe as possible for not only our drivers, but everyone who participates in the sport and the race fans as well.”

It was the worst among a day full of crazy situations.

Kurt Busch's initial appeal of his indefinite suspension was denied to start the day, prompting a second appeal Saturday night - which was upheld, sustaining his indefinite suspension and leaving his racing future in doubt. Then, there was a wreck in Xfinity Series qualifying that destroyed six cars, including Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill. A brief rain shower postponed that qualifying session after the red flag.

Once they got to the actual race, the first 80 laps of the race went green before the last 40 played out like a demolition derby. The first Big One happened on lap 94 after Daniel Suarez spun in front of the pack, sending Regan Smith rolling down the front stretch and collecting 12 cars total.

And, oh by the way, second-year driver Ryan Reed won the race, passing Brad Keselowski in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap after Kyle Larson and Cassill-teammate Ross Chastain went spinning into the infield. NASCAR let the field race back to the checkered flag and Reed collected his first career win.

Even with the emotional reaction from Reed, who struggled mightily in his rookie year in the then-Nationwide Series, Busch's accident and the SAFER barrier debate was the dominant topic.

Reed, his car owner Jack Roush, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher all took turns in the media center after the race, and it didn't take long for the SAFER barrier questions to get brought up.

'Whenever somebody hits a barrier, a mound that's not a SAFER barrier, you always think an injury could have been avoided,” Roush said. 'It's unfortunate that Kyle hit an area. Probably the first time anybody ever wrecked in that particular space there.

'Certainly racetracks are not without risk. Drivers have to face the problem of having something happen that somebody hadn't planned for. It's unfortunate when that does occur.”

It was Roush's last point that was echoed by another of his drivers, second-place finisher Chris Buescher. The fellow second-year driver pointed out NASCAR's history of being reactive instead of proactive when it comes to certain aspects of safety.

Saturday was another example.

'That's something we've seen through the years develop and turn into, you know, kind of a reactive cause. We keep running into situations where people find spots that aren't thought of before,” Buescher said. 'I think the sport has progressed so far in the safety aspect. We started to take it for granted. But just there's really no room to do that. My opinion, I mean, it needs to be as safe as possible. If that means lining the inside walls as well, it's probably a good idea.”

Many drivers, crew chiefs, car owners and various members of the sport took to social media to air frustrations as well. Smith, who watched the end of the race on TV, tweeted, 'I'm genuinely furious right now. Any wall in any of the top 3 series without safer barriers is INEXCUSABLE. It's 2015.”

The individual racetracks bear the burden of financial responsibility for installation of the SAFER barrier, and some have used that as an excuse for why it's not installed everywhere.

Chitwood would not make excuses for the lack of SAFER barrier where Busch hit, and said financials will have no impact on safety going forward for his speedway.

'For us, we really can't look at financials as a reason for this. We have to have a venue which we can put on NASCAR racing and have competitors be safe,” Chitwood said. 'Come Monday, we're going to start the plan so we can put SAFER barrier everywhere here. Finances don't come into play. That's really not a question. We're going to get this fixed and be sure we're ready for the next event here.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com