The Daytona 500 finish: We may be too spoiled by safety.

 The 2020 edition of the Daytona 500 ended in dramatic fashion yesterday. Denny Hamlin won by the second narrowist margin of victory in the races history. Unfortunately that wasn't the only drama unfolding in those moments.

 While leading on the last lap, Ryan Newman was being pushed by Ryan Blaney. This is a common occurrence in restrictor plate racing. It happens hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, throughout a race of this nature. It is a delicate process however. The smallest error or minor unsettling of either car can lead to a wreck. This is what happened Monday night. 

 I want to extremely clear about something. This was NOT Blaneys fault. He was doing what every other driver would have been in that situation, Newman included.

The wreck

 I want to break this wreck down so I can drive home my ultimate point later.

 Entering the trioval something went wrong with the "link" between Newman and Blaneys machines. Newman's car turned towards the outside wall, eventually impacting it nearly head on.

 The impact sent Newman's car airborne. Flipping upside down and spinning back towards the middle of the track.

 What happens next is where things get really abnormal and extremely scary.

 Still upside down Newman's car spun in such a matter that it left the driver's side facing oncomming traffic. Corey LaJoie, with absolutely nowhere to go, slammed into Newman's car, squarely in the driver's door. Newman's car still being upside down meant the LaJoie's bumper was impacting the window net area of Newman's machine.

 To simplify, a net, meant to keep driver's arms in the car and debri small enough not to be thwarted by the frame of the car out, was now tasked with keeping a driver safe from an entire car moving at 200 miles per hour.

 Again. LaJoie did nothing wrong. There simply isn't time to react when you are moving that fast.

The result

 A lot of things had to come together in the worst possible way for this to have happened the way it did. Multiple individual elements, that on their own would be normal and most likely harmless, came together to create a very dangerous situation.

 Even a direct impact to a cars driver's side door, while cause for increased concern, is generally just as harless as any other impact. The cars are built to take an impact like that if they are right side up. As devistating as going from 200 miles per hour to nearly zero is, it's not catastrophic. Rollovers happen all the time. While it leaves the car looking like a pile of scrap, the driver is almost always none the worse for wear. Unfortunately that just isn't the way things worked out last night.

 If we could rewind to the moment right before the wreck started, we could hit play a million times and not come up with the same result. We are dealing with split seconds. The smallest difference in an angle of impact could have made all the difference.

 It's been 19 years since Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash. One that, up until Newman went airborne, looked a lot like this one. But I think this one looked worse. The result thankfully, was much better.

 Which brings me to...

The conclusion

 Race fans, and I would say sports fans in general, have become accustomed to seeing extremely violent things end without any catastrophic effects to the athlete. To echo a sentiment shared by many sports personalitys, We have come to take driver safety for granted.

 Earnhardt was the last driver lost in one of NASCARs top 3 series. But spectacular crashes continue to be common place. The severity of wrecks today rival those of twenty plus years ago. But we have become so accustomed to watching drivers walk away, that many of us don't even take a moment to worry. We don't wait to see the driver climb out. We just assume they will.

 This is actually great! It's a testament to how far NASCAR has come with safety. They have been leading the way across all sports in this area for years.

 But this incident proves that no matter what you do. Things can still go horribly wrong. No matter how small the odds are the worst can still happen. Despite advances in driver's gear, the cars, the tracks, and safety crew training, there is still always the risk of serious injury or death.

 As fans we need to do our best to our best to remember this. Not just in NASCAR but across all sports. We need to accept that mitigating the risk to athletes is the right thing to do. Even if it makes the sport a little less exciting.

 I would be lying if I said wrecks weren't my favorite part of NASCAR. The more spectacular the better. I love violence in my sports too. Hockey is my favorite sport, I love football and MMA. Big hits, hockey fights and brutal knockouts are all fun to watch. I don't want any of them to go anywhere.

 What we need to remember is that athletes aren't just characters on TV. These are real people, they have families and friends, they have things they want to do outside of the sport. They accept the risk that comes with their chosen profession. But that doesn't mean we can't do everything we can to reduce those risks. As fans we should be supporting athletes safety and stop complaining when measures to bolster safety make things "a little less exciting".

 I'm not trying to preach here. I couldn't tell you how many times I have said a sport is getting "soft". I am a fan who watched NASCAR and took driver safety as a forgone conclusion. Last night events have changed my perspective. Hopefully I'm not alone.