NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway officials will review the last-lap crash from early Monday morning where Austin Dillon’s #3 car launched into the catch fence and left his fellow drivers amazed that neither Dillon nor race fans were seriously injured. “We’ll work closely with NASCAR [with our review],” DIS president Joie Chitwood said. “We did this after the last incident [a 2013 Xfinity Series race]. We’re going to learn from it and see what else we can do to be better. I think you saw some of the improvements at work today, so what we can learn from that tomorrow and the next days, we’re going to incorporate moving forward.” NASCAR chairman Brian France said Monday afternoon on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the “work has already begun” at NASCAR’s research and development center in North Carolina to see if anything can be done to keep the cars on the ground while also trying to have the closest, tightest racing possible. “An accident like last night, boy it sure takes your breath away,” France said. “And it should. But that’s auto racing. And we’re working on better solutions all the time to make racing safer and better. “¦ We have an entire group of people that woke up this morning trying to figure out how we make this better [and] make sure the cars don’t elevate.” Dillon’s car ripped a hole of an estimated 60 feet in the catch fence. It appeared that the fence acted properly by keeping the car out of the grandstands. In doing so, the fence shredded Dillon’s car to pieces, and some debris flew into the grandstands. The car’s engine landed in the tri-oval grass. Dillon suffered a bruised tailbone and a bruised forearm but no significant injuries. Five fans were treated for unspecified injuries, with one going to the hospital and being released later Monday morning.(ESPN)
