After the tragic 2001 Daytona 500 wreck that claimed the life of racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr., Nascar invented the SAFER barrier. It is a foam extension that is placed on the walls of race tracks, and almost every track nowadays has these devices. And they have broken the impact of many wrecks which were capable of claiming the lives of drivers.

However, not every wall has them, and Nascar has recently realized that that is a critical mistake. Two years ago Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano were racing for the win at Auto Club Speedway, when they collided and Hamlin sailed down the track into the inside wall. The result was a broken back.

And, more recently, Kyle Busch learned the value of SAFER barriers. Kyle was racing in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona when a massive wreck broke out. Busch was hurled down the track and slammed into a solid concrete wall. The result: a compound fracture in his lower right leg and his left foot.

One driver who has hit multiple SAFER barrier free places is Jeff Gordon. He has never sustained a serious injury though. However; when he hit a patch of wall that didn’t have a SAFER barrier this past weekend at Atlanta, he was visibly frustrated.

Due to all the resent injuries, Nascar has taken action and has added SAFER barriers to many of the walls. Thing is, they had added many barriers to Atlanta before this past weekend, and yet, Jeff Gordon still managed to hit a concrete wall. That simply goes to show that until a track is completely covered with SAFER barriers, it isn’t a guaranteed soft hit for drivers. Even worse, sometimes the wrecked drivers are hurt anyway. However, as of now, Nascar is doing everything in their power to make the tracks safe. And for that, I’m sure Jeff Gordon is thankful.