Well it's been a little over 24 hours since one of the most spectacular crashes in the annals of NASCAR history, was witnessed by all the fans who watched a very exciting finish on Sunday. The NASCAR boards have been lit up all day long, with the one question that has been bouncing around in the minds of the fans, probably wondering what steps John Darby, Jim Hunter, and Robin Pemberton will take to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. Accidents and wrecks as we already know are part of this high speed sport, along with the dangers that go along when you try to corral a 3800 pound race car inside a track, that is almost no bigger then the average football field as far as its width. Fans from around the country have flocked to the many NASCAR boards that are on the web today, trying find out what exactly was it that caused a 3800 pound Sprint cup car to get airborne, and injure 8 fans that were there to watch a NASCAR race?

Well we have to give a lot of credit to the heads of NASCAR who didn't hesitate to address the tragedy, that could have been a lot worse for those that have never witnessed anything like that, and of course for the older fan, there are still those unanswered questions as to why NASCAR hasn't looked further into this area, especially since this is not the first time that it has happened. "Safety is, and always will be, NASCAR's No. 1 priority, and we are glad that each of the safety devices at Talladega yesterday worked properly, including the roof flaps and the catch fence. As most of you know, we are constantly evaluating safety initiatives. It's something we do every day we are at the racetrack, and it's something we do every day at the R&D center. We are going to take whatever measures we need to in order to ensure the races are as safe as possible for everyone. We tried letting the competitors police themselves when it comes to blocking and bump drafting. After reviewing all of those procedures, we might have to start making some judgment calls of our own and penalize, issue penalties for drivers who blatantly block and abuse the bump drafting," said Jim Hunter, after he was the first to speak on the subject.

From all the reaction that was blogged today, it seems that most of the fans concerns are the so-called penalties that NASCAR said would be handed out, if a driver intentionally blocked another driver while going for the win, as was the issue last season when Regan Smith and Tony Stewart had their last lap incident, and of course the incident in Sundays race. But when you begin to look a little deeper into exactly what happened, could it also fall under the category of aggressive driving which we have seen drivers get penalized, and even warned about throughout this racing season "I think what happened, guys are racing for the finish, and it's obvious they are doing whatever they can do to get to the start/finish line. I think from a goal standpoint, you're looking at intentionally issues during a race as it relates to blocking or being aggressive driving and take it to a different area of the racetrack; say it was the backstretch, those are more easily identified, and I would say that they would be more along the lines of a procedure penalty during the race or the event itself.

"I think it was a combination of both. They were in bounds, or above the yellow line, and I would say that Carl was doing everything he could to try to maintain the first place coming across the coming across the line, and the guy was trying to win the race was running second. That's what these guys do. Many times they come together trying to win a race, whether it's Martinsville or Talladega. I would say they both have some ownership in it," added Robin Pemberton when asked if that would be considered blocking, or aggressive driving.

"One of our primary goals over the years is to build a restraining fence that keeps the cars and parts and pieces out of the spectator areas. And nothing is bullet proof from yesterday from what we saw yesterday, the fence, the retaining fence did what it was supposed to do; it threw the car back on the racetrack. There was some debris that went in the grandstand that, fortunately, did not invoke serious injury. So we will analyze the fence and make sure that it did what it was supposed to do. We think it did. If there's something that we come up with, as we analyze this accident, we will certainly put it into play. We will make it as safe as we humanly can. You know, we do the best that we can, and I feel like our guys do a great job with safety and making the cars as safe as we can, working with the facilities and making those facilities as safe as we can with SAFER barriers and things of that nature. We continue to improve on those." Said Jim Hunter.

Whenever the, "big one" or a wreck of the same magnitude happens at either Daytona or Talladega, the first place that the blame is always put is on the restrictor plate, without ever taking into account that the speeds that they race at these two tracks is the same as California, and also a few other tracks that are on the schedule. When you go back to square one, and look at where the real problem might lie, have you ever thought to look at the high banking that these tracks have as compared to California or Michigan? Now imagine if NASCAR were to flatten Dega and Daytona to almost the same specs as California. All that would do is bring an even a bigger outcry from the fans, who already don't like the racing there, and now you are adding two more tracks like that?

"The speeds at Talladega are equal to many of the racetracks we race at from coast to coast. Talladega and Daytona are not the only racetracks that we have wrecks. Talladega and Daytona are not the only places that we have multiple car wrecks. But I think for some reason, there's always a temptation to sensationalize the wrecks at Daytona and Talladega way beyond what happens at Lowe's Motor Speedway or Atlanta Motor Speedway or any of the other tracks that we race on. I also believe that it goes without mention that the most exciting races that we have today are both at Daytona and Talladega. That's a big part of our sport, and those two tracks have been a big part of our sport for many, many years." Said John Darby.

So where exactly does NASCAR go with what happened on Sunday? NASCAR is just like any other sport that is out there, there will be times of trial and error, and of course there will also be those times when even they have to take an examination of just how safe the sport really is. When you begin to look back at maybe 10 or 15 years, just how many serious accidents have the drivers been involved in, or even the fans as compared to let's say a major league baseball game where a small baseball weighing only 5 ounces,  has done more damage then a 3800 pound race car. Ever since NASCAR mandated the use of the safer barrier, and the Hans device, along with the C.O.T. that was just brought into our sport full time in 2008, how many serious injuries has the sport witnessed?

We could always go back to the untimely death of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr back in 2001, and since then NASCAR has run over 325 races without one serious injury. Statistically speaking, especially when you take into account just how dangerous this sport really is, and how close the fans get to sit to see their favorite drivers race around these so-called asphalt death traps that many of you are portraying them to be. Now is the time to be realistic, and know that NASCAR has one of the best safety programs out of any sport that is out there today. NASCAR throughout the years has never cut corners, or have they ever not taken all the proper measures to ensure that the fans safety always comes first.

"But I think when you look at the fencing; those are things periodically that we look at on the safety side that we upgrade, and until something like this happens then you evaluate where you're at. I think the fence was plenty high, but I do believe that we'll go back and we'll look at some other things. And whether it needs to be reconfigured or not, it's something that we'll get with the racetrack and ATC and all that to look at. You know, we do the best that we can, and I feel like our guys do a great job with safety and making the cars as safe as we can, working with the facilities and making those facilities as safe as we can with SAFER barriers and things of that nature. We continue to improve on those." Added Robin Pemberton.

Robin Pemberton also took the time to discuss what the protocol is when an accident happens out on the track, and exactly how NASCAR steps in to address such matters.  "One of the things that any time that there is an accident, we go to the different teams and we look and take pictures and measure the movement of the restraint systems, whether it be the head surrounds and the seats, all of the roll bars and tubing and things like that. We do it on all of our series. And from the modified series all the way up to the Cup and we do that to help all of our groups, not just the big three, to work with them and their safety. We have a group here, we have Tom Gideon that's here that took Steve Peterson's place this year. We have Mike Fisher and we have got a group in the back that goes and does investigation work that helps us make all of the right judgment calls. We do that on a regular basis if need be. Also, many times we'll impound a car at the R&D center and invite car builders from around the area, all of the different teams, to not just look at their cars, but look at the competitors' cars to where they can each help each other as it relates to safety matters."

As far as the why we have the yellow line rule? John Darby's explanation should leave all of us without a doubt, as to why this rule was implemented "The yellow line rule itself has been very effective in controlling some of the huge wrecks we used to have. It's a very simple process, because if you look at the backstretch for Talladega that may be 15 lanes wide if you allow the competitors to use the skid pads and everything, the entrance to turn three is not; it's back down to three lanes. What happens is it becomes a big game of chicken from going from 15 lanes wide down to three, and nobody wants to give; and that ultimately created some very large and unwarranted wrecks. The yellow line rule has at least made the width of the racetrack consistent all the way around, so the competitors know how much real estate there is there to use."

So as NASCAR continues to improve on what has catapulted them to the #2 most popular sport that is watched today, how can any of us doubt that all the safety measures that are put into place, especially when you look back to Carl Edwards jogging across the finish line, after one of the sports most spectacular wrecks are not top priority.  NASCAR as we know it will always be a sport that will continue to have its share of controversies; one of the reasons is because of the extremely high energy level that it brings. But then which sport can we actually put under a microscope and with all truth be told, say that they don't have some sort of issue arise from time to time? Not once has any of the NASCAR brass ever said that the sport was perfect, but instead just like the times that we live in, it has be given the chance to grow, the same way that each one of us  grows  each and every day. Im Out