NASCAR “cannot have automobiles leaving the bottom”

“I imply, little doubt we acquired to discover a strategy to maintain automobiles on the bottom. I don’t care what the (aero) guidelines package deal is,” Keselowski mentioned following his victory within the GEICO 500. “We begin there – can’t have automobiles leaving the bottom.”

On the ultimate lap of the primary stage of Sunday’s race, Denny Hamlin turned Joey Logano whereas racing down the backstretch. Logano’s No. 22 Ford reduce left with the left-side of his automobile getting hit by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which appeared to elevate his rear wheels off the bottom.

The entrance of Logano’s automobile then appeared to make slight contact with the passing automobile of William Byron, which helped ship Logano’s automobile up and over and into a number of barrel rolls earlier than coming to a relaxation on all 4 wheels.

Logano was unharmed.

“We’re fairly good drivers, however none of that stuff works after we’re within the air – the fuel pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel, shifter,” Keselowski mentioned. “We’re not rudders. When that factor will get within the air, it lands the place it desires to.

“What goes up should come down. It’s not a jet-propelled airplane. We’ve no strategy to management the place it comes down, so we completely must discover a strategy to maintain them from coming off the bottom.”

Whereas Logano believed the present aerodynamics guidelines package deal contributed to his wreck, Keselowski remained noncommittal.

“This explicit guidelines package deal, my emotions on it, it’s really easy to construct a run, extremely simple to construct a run,” he mentioned. “I don’t know if it’s important to have fairly as a lot tact. But it surely does make for extra side-by-side racing. I feel the followers like that. There’s some tradeoffs.

“As for whether or not or not it causes the automobiles to go airborne or not, I might let the aero guys most likely reply that higher than I may.”

NASCAR officers mentioned they might be working with Group Penske officers as soon as Logano’s automobile is again in North Carolina to see what might be discovered from the wreck.

This explicit mannequin automobile within the Cup Sequence won’t be used after this season however the collection nonetheless has two superspeedway races remaining in 2021.

“I feel when automobiles sort of take flight due to impacts, I feel all of us simply assume that’s the best way it’s going to be. In the event you run over any individual, any individual hits you, will get issues shifting, that’s one factor,” mentioned Travis Geisler, Group Penske’s competitors director.

“When a automobile sort of takes off by itself, that’s a unique stage of concern from an trade standpoint. We have to spend a while taking a look at it. We’ll undergo the automobile (on Monday) with NASCAR, with much more of a thoughts for inspection on what occurred to the automobile.

“There’s solely two extra (superspeedway races) left, however another race left is simply too many for those who’re not 100-percent certain you’re as protected as you might be. We’ll do what we will there, attempt to study with the NASCAR people, attempt to deal with something we will.”