NASCAR
Bob Pockrass, NASCAR 9y

SAFER barrier mitigates Jimmie Johnson's infield wall crash at CMS

NASCAR, AutoRacing

CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson would have hit a solid concrete wall last October at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but he instead hit a SAFER barrier added earlier this year when he crashed Sunday during the Coca-Cola 600.

Johnson spun on Lap 273 coming off of Turn 4 and slammed into the inside wall just prior to the pit stalls, leaving him both thankful for the improvements and wondering if more needed to be done.

For past races, CMS had a SAFER barrier on the inside wall through Turn 4 but didn't have one on the inside wall from the end of the turn to the start of the pit stalls. There is an opening for emergency vehicles between the inside wall and the start of the pit road wall that separates crews and their equipment from the pit stall.

Johnson came dangerously close to sliding through the opening but instead hit the new SAFER barrier just prior to the opening. He was not injured, and after his team made repairs to the car, he returned to the race.

Since Kyle Busch's accident Feb. 21, in which he broke his right leg and left foot after crashing into a solid concrete wall, NASCAR and the tracks have taken a closer look at where they should add the SAFER barrier, a steel-and-foam barrier that connects to the concrete wall and helps absorb energy the energy of a crash.

"I could see the SAFER barrier and I could see the opening and I could see the 2 car pit [of Brad Keselowski's crew]," Johnson said. "I was frightened I was going to get through that hole. It wouldn't have been pretty for me, but to have teams and stuff there -- that was something I was staring at sliding for a long ways.

"I was very thankful the SAFER barrier was there. I just wish we could find a way to extend the wall out and redirect the car from that opening or close that opening up."

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