NASCAR Rules and Regulations - Wikipedia.com

History of safety in NASCAR

Safety in racing has come a long way since the first green flag dropped. Up until the last few years, NASCAR was heavily criticized for its lack of focus on safety. Many safety precautions were not mandatory, as they are in other racing series, but only optional or recommended. NASCAR changed its stance on this after one of the sport's most popular drivers, Dale Earnhardt, was killed in a racing accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Since 2002, no driver has been killed on the track in any of NASCAR's three major series. The greatest testament to the efficacy of the new safety rules was in a spectacular but nonfatal crash during qualifying runs for the 2008 Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Michael McDowell, in his second Sprint Cup race for Michael Waltrip Racing in his Toyota Car of Tomorrow was in the midst of the second lap of his qualifying run when his car slipped on some loose oil-dry. The oil-dry had been left from the clean up of a previous incident where a qualifier "blew up" his engine between Turns One and Two. Upon hitting the oil-dry, McDowell was sent head first into the SAFER barrier at nearly 180mph. McDowell's car began to flip and roll violently, leaving much of his car in parts on the track. Thanks to the safety precautions, the use of the COT and the SAFER barrier as well as the mandated use of the HANS device, McDowell walked away and raced later that weekend.