NASCAR reacts to huge Cody Ware wreck by teasing revolutionary new crash technology

NASCAR has reacted to Cody Ware's huge Watkins Glen wreck by revealing that it is working on new tech to ensure cautions do get called for similar crashes in the future.

Ware and his No. 51 Chevrolet crashed hard into a wall with nine laps remaining of the Cup Series showdown, but shockingly there was no caution.

That left many experts raging at the lack of a yellow flag, with Joe Gibbs Racing superstar Denny Hamlin describing it as “not acceptable” as he criticized both NASCAR and broadcaster FOX.

He fumed: “For you not to see Cody Ware destroyed in that final corner… holy cow, man. They need to say something about that. Not just, ‘We’ll look at it. We’re always looking to improve.'”

NASCAR TODAY: Michael Jordan TV bombshell, Busch penalty row is now Kyle vs Kurt

New tech in the works say NASCAR

Well according to NASCAR there is something already in the works which would potentially stop this concerning incident happening again.

Per vice president of racing communications Mike Forde, a revolutionary new system is being developed to help with calling cautions for cars which leave the scene of an accident.

Forde explained why a caution was not called Sunday, and why he believes the new tech should be the solution.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Hauler Talk podcast, he explained: “Tim Bermann [race director] clicks over to Turn 6, and as he flips over, he sees the 51 rolling off, and the turn spotter radios the track is clear, so there’s no debris.

“That’s how it all happened and why there was no caution. And so obviously the follow-up discussion is, ‘Well, that was a big hit. There should have been a caution. How do you fix that?’”

How the new tech works

Forde then went on to answer his own question by explaining that NASCAR VP of safety engineering John Patalak is working on a project to the delivery of information from every car’s incident data record to the scoring tower.

Crucially that information includes key data points such as G forces and peak acceleration, which allow race officials to determine the severity of a crash.

Forde continued: “What’s going to happen, and I have no timetable on this, but this data is going to be sent to race control and then be able to be reviewed pretty quickly. And then we can decide, ‘Hey, that was too big a hit. Even though they rolled off, we need to throw a caution here.’ …

“So I think this solution is really interesting and could help a lot in these types of incidents. I think they’re rare. I think the race director is outstanding. Tim Bermann has done a fantastic job. If he had eyes on that wreck as it was happening, that would have been a caution.”

Forde said the process would be helped by a new McLaren Engine Control Unit that will make its debut this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.

“The data and the science is already done and can be calculated pretty quickly; now it’s kind of like just more of a delivery of that data and packaging it and analyzing it.”