After spinning, Larson’s car shot back up the track into the path of Preece, who made direct contact with the passenger-side door of the car.
The violent impact caused significant damage to the side of Larson’s car, and a door bar inside the cockpit could be seen pushed upwards and twisted after the crash.
NASCAR took both the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford back to the R&D Center to investigate.
“Thankfully, I’m okay,” said Larson after the Talladega wreck. “My car is absolutely destroyed. The cockpit is a mess. Just thankful that I’m alright and all that, but just a bummer. We put ourselves in position once again on a superspeedway, and the end results don’t show it. Another wreck not of my doing on a superspeedway. Just hate it, but we’ll keep getting better and eventually, it’ll have to work out.”
Both he and Preece were uninjured in the crash, but Preece said it was “definitely one of the hardest hits I’ve ever taken in my racing career.”
Listed below are the updates and a diagram showcasing the changes:
- Right Side Door Bar Gussets: Six right side bar gussets may be added in the outlined locations (photo below). The gussets will be provided to teams at no charge.
- The front clip V-brace must be removed from the assembly.
These updates are effective immediately as NASCAR prepares for its longest race — the Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In a memo sent to the race teams, NASCAR made it clear that further updates are being considered. The sanctioning body will be performing two days of of crash tests this week at a facility in Ohio.