After a frightening crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2008, could Jeff Gordon be hesitant to return to the 1.5-mile superspeedway for Sunday’s Shelby 427?
Hardly. “I can’t wait to get to Las Vegas,” the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion said. Late in last year’s event, Gordon was running fourth on a restart when he lost control of his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet exiting turn 2. He slid into the inside retaining wall and made hard contact in an area that had no SAFER barrier. Although it was a scary accident, the safety features in his car saved him from serious injury.
“I heard the track installed a SAFER barrier there,” said Gordon, who has one victory and five top-fives in 11 starts at the Las Vegas track. “To be honest, I never noticed that area of the track before last year. The first time I noticed it was when I was about to slam into it.
“But I’m not so concerned about it going back. Between NASCAR, which mandates that our cars be safe and that we wear head and neck restraining devices, Hendrick Motorsports building fast and safe cars, and my sponsor DuPont which produces materials such as Kevlar which is in my helmet and in the nose of my car to my Nomex driving suit, I feel completely safe in the car. “I’m sure at some point during the weekend I’ll glance over at the new wall when I’m driving down the backstretch to see what they’ve done. But I’m sure I’ll see enough of it watching practice and qualifying on television.
Hardly. “I can’t wait to get to Las Vegas,” the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion said. Late in last year’s event, Gordon was running fourth on a restart when he lost control of his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet exiting turn 2. He slid into the inside retaining wall and made hard contact in an area that had no SAFER barrier. Although it was a scary accident, the safety features in his car saved him from serious injury.
“I heard the track installed a SAFER barrier there,” said Gordon, who has one victory and five top-fives in 11 starts at the Las Vegas track. “To be honest, I never noticed that area of the track before last year. The first time I noticed it was when I was about to slam into it.
“But I’m not so concerned about it going back. Between NASCAR, which mandates that our cars be safe and that we wear head and neck restraining devices, Hendrick Motorsports building fast and safe cars, and my sponsor DuPont which produces materials such as Kevlar which is in my helmet and in the nose of my car to my Nomex driving suit, I feel completely safe in the car. “I’m sure at some point during the weekend I’ll glance over at the new wall when I’m driving down the backstretch to see what they’ve done. But I’m sure I’ll see enough of it watching practice and qualifying on television.
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