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Former NASCAR Boss Cites Dale Earnhardt Sr’s Death As the “Right Reason” Behind Disastrous Introduction, Admits Mistake

Published 11/18/2022, 5:50 AM EST

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Years after the Car of Tomorrow was launched by NASCAR, many still believe that it was the worst thing that Brian Frace did in his time as the organization’s leader. However, recently France admitted that the Car of Tomorrow was definitely a mistake and also explained the reason why such was the case.

During the season finale of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s podcast, France stated, “The way we did the car of tomorrow was a mistake because the reason we did it was the right reason. It was right off of all of the including your tragic tragedy with your dad (Dale Earnhardt Sr’s death). But it came off of all that. So that’s why we primarily did, it was to be innovative in a safety good, smart way.”

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“But we didn’t get to collaboration with the teams, that they did, the last time, the last number of gen, whatever cars were out to now. And we were a little cavalier about that. We did a really good job getting safety collaborations as whether it’s a HANS device, SAFER barriers, crush zones in cars, lots of inputs. We had the big, first safety summit in Indianapolis at the time.”

“And a lot of great things… the R&D centre was born from that. All great things that continue to today. But in those process of doing that, we could have gotten more collaboration on that. We paid price for that,he added.

Brian France elaborates on the “price” they paid for COT

France mentioned that they had paid a price. The price of not having adequate collaboration between the teams to create a great car of tomorrow. Soon, Dale Earnhardt Jr asked him the “price,” France was talking about earlier.

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France said,that one was hey, the cars don’t look good. Because my restaurant doesn’t even look at it forget the food. I’m gonna walk in and I don’t even like my seat. So I don’t like what they’ve done. The cars can’t keep you driven, so the racing’s gonna be bad and you had a number of people saying that. So that’s a bad headwind for any sport.”

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France admitted that the design of the COT was so poorly received. The majority of the fans were highly disappointed to even look at the thing rather than enjoy watching it race.

How do you feel about the Car of Tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below!

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog as well, covering NASCAR, F1, F2, W Series, MotoGP, DTM, IndyCar, WRC, and WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bubba Wallace, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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Edited by:

Jayant Chhabra