NASCAR drivers disagree on safety at short tracks

June 15, 2013 at 12:05a.m.

Staff/wire report

BROOKLYN, Mich.

Tony Stewart opened his remarks with a few words about his relationship with Jason Leffler.

Moments later, he offered a brief plea amid growing safety questions about Leffler’s death at a dirt-track race earlier this week.

“I’d be grateful if you guys would understand that what happened this week wasn’t because somebody didn’t do something right with the race track. It was an accident.

“Just like if you go out and there’s a car crash. It’s an accident,” Stewart said Friday at Michigan. “Nobody as a track owner wants to go through what happened this week, but it’s not due to a lack of effort on their part to try to make their facilities as safe as possible under the conditions they have.”

Leffler died Wednesday night from injuries suffered in a sprint car crash at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J. The Delaware County (Pa.) medical examiner determined Leffler died from a blunt force neck injury. He was 37 and is survived by a 5-year-old son.

Stewart knows all about the challenges facing track owners. He owns Eldora Speedway in Ohio, a dirt track that will host a NASCAR Truck Series race next month.

He’s one of a handful of big names who will show up to race at small, local tracks from time to time, Stewart has been a guest driver at Trumbull County’s Sharon Speedway in recent years.

Leffler’s death brought renewed attention to the safety of those races — and not everyone is optimistic.

“I don’t run those races for a reason. I have teams, yes, certainly. There are a handful of drivers that run at the local level. I don’t very often,” said Brad Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion. “I don’t know what happened to Jason, and maybe it was completely unrelated, and I don’t want that to be confused, but still, the safety standards at local short tracks — they’re out of control. They’re dismal.”

Sprint car races can be more dangerous for drivers and spectators because many facilities lack the SAFER barriers that are standard in NASCAR and IndyCar, and the cars aren’t always adequately protected.

Bridgeport Speedway does not have SAFER Barriers, energy-absorbing walls cost about $500 a foot for installation. Most local short tracks cannot afford them.

Stewart said safety is improving, though.

“Most of them have safety teams at each facility,” Stewart said.

Keselowski was asked to pick one word to describe a lap at Michigan International Speedway.

“Fast,” Keselowski said. “This is, to me, the fastest track we have — and it might be in speed, but it definitely is in feel.”

MIS is in its second year with a newly paved surface, and drivers are again making 200 mph laps look almost routine. Carl Edwards topped Sprint Cup qualifying Friday with a lap of 202.452 mph.

That run came a year after Marcos Ambrose won the pole at MIS at 203.241 mph — the first time since 1987 the 200 mph mark was broken during qualifying for NASCAR’s top series.

“The new track is super fun to race on,” Edwards said.