Dillon Takes Flight...In a Car!

 Source: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America

As I sat in the bed in the wee hours of Monday morning, my heart sank and my stomach was in my throat when Austin Dillon, driver of the famous Richard Childress Racing #3 car (made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr.) get airborne and fly into the catch fence after crossing the finish line. I knew right away that he had to be seriously injured; if not worse! You can see the fans reactions here. I was relieved to see the thumbs up from the crew members that rushed to the car. Thankfully, Dillon was able to walk away with not much worse than a bruised tail bone.
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The question now is, what does NASCAR do? Well, I don't know what else they can do short of getting away from restrictor plate racing! The car was completely destroyed after flying to the stands and the driver walked away! On top of that, there was only one fan that was taken to the hospital! So, a 3200 lb. car going 190 mph goes flying into the stands and only one person goes to the hospital, and something needs to be done? To me it was a miracle and a testament to how far things have come since Dale Earnhardt's death in the 2001 Daytona 500.

What do I think NASCAR should do?

First, move the fans back & up. This would increase the distance between the fans and the cars. With cars running in packs, there is no reason for the fans to be so close. You don't get that close at the .5 mile high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. 

Secondly, find a rules package that has less grip. This would bring more driver skill back into it, discourage running so tightly.

Third, get rid of the restrictor plate, use a smaller engine at Daytona and Talladega and let the teams tune them within the given rules package. This should put some distance amongst the cars, but allow the draft, that makes these tracks so exciting, stay. This would also help with the no passing and follow the leader game that is played now.

Last, and most certainly least, go back to the tandem drafting of several years ago. Exciting, yes. However, it gets old quick and let's not forget that it was tandem racing that started the most recent debate when Brad Keselowski clipped Carl Edwards at the end of a race in 2012.

I honestly do not know what they can do. It's a part of the sport. It's an ugly part of the sport. But, it's part of the allure and reason that people (just like me) who were glued to their televisions at 3am to see what happened. The driver's know what they are risking and it's the scariest part of the sport. There is surely something out there that they can do as no one addresses things like this as quick as NASCAR does.

Come back tomorrow for some Florida State football commentary!