The case could be made that the winner of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway should have been called down pit road for repairs prior to the final restart.
Technically, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was involved in the final crash with five laps to go, the largest by volume in the history of the division at 26 car, because it started when Austin Cindric was turned into his door.
Stenhouse kept driving straight as nearly everyone else drove into Cindric and those collected but it left a significant hole in the driver side door of the JTG Daugherty No. 47.
And that hole damaged or knocked out the mandated protective foam that NASCAR requires inside that part of the frame.
It’s listed in Section 3.3.3.7 of the Cup Series rule book
- A. Energy absorbing (EA) foam blocks must be installed on the outside surface of the left and right side door
- B. Door foam that has been damaged or crushed must be replaced. Effective May 4, 2022, door foam that is missing skin (including all machined foams) must be replaced.
Crew chief Mike Kelley was coy about the subject when asked about it in his winner’s press conference.
He was told other crew chiefs had complained about it.
“I bet they did,” Kelley said with a laugh.
But seriously though.
“I didn’t see no foam missing,” Kelley said. “Yeah, we did take a hard hit. We took a direct shot really hard, and on this car if you want to take it somewhere, it’s definitely not in one of the wheels with the toe links. They bend for a reason, and your day would pretty much be done if you bent a toe link.
“So, yeah, it did. It took a big shot. If they were going to pull us down for that, it probably would have been hard to get that car off the racetrack.”
Fortunately for Kelley and Stenhouse, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said he wasn’t aware of this subject at all when asked as part of a post-race briefing over a variety of race control issues.
“That’s news to me, the first I’ve heard of it,” Sawyer said. “I can’t comment on that because I dont know.”