DOVER, Del. – For the second time in three weeks a piece of tungsten extracted itself from an NASCAR XFINITY Series car and made contact with another car causing destructive damage.
During Friday’s opening round of practice at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Obaika Racing’s Peyton Sellers lost his tungsten which fell into the direct path of Carl Long.
Thinking it was Seller’s sway bar hitting the racetrack, Long ran over the debris, causing immediate damage to his radiator. More internal damage caused Long lose control of his No. 13 Dodge Charger and slam the outside Turn 4 wall before coming to rest against the inside wall.
Obviously frustrated, Long climbed from his car uninjured, but clearly dejected.
“When I went under the bridge down into (Turn 3) I saw some white dust come out from under the 97 car, concrete dust. And I saw that and the first thing I thought, wow; his sway bar must be dragging the track big time. By the time that thought went through my head I had very solid hit in the front end and lost all control.”
He added, “The tungsten went through the radiator and knocked the oil filter loose, then went into the crankshaft so it had to no oil pump on it,” Long described. “And when I hit the wall the throttle come wide open, and that’s why I couldn’t get it stopped good before I hit the infield wall on the front straightaway.”
Victor Obaika, a new owner in XFINITY Series competition immediately extended his apologies to Long’s team for the misfortunate and vowed that his team will make every effort to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again.
“I don’t know whether to say its serendipity, especially because this has just happened a few weeks ago, so everybody should be sensitive about it,” said Obaika. “Unfortunately, it did happened and we definitely take it very seriously. We will be unfortunately also having to take some internal introspection to ensure it does not happen again and more than that just to ensure that we can show that we take it seriously, more than just words.”
Two weeks ago at Iowa Speedway, Jamie Dick making his NASCAR XFINITY Series return after being diagnosed with onset diabetes escaped serious injury when tungsten from Ross Chastain’s Chevrolet went through his windshield. The piece also made its way through the cockpit where it hit him in the helmet and sliced a piece of the roll cage before exiting through the window.
For Long, who shares ownership of his team with owner entrepreneur Derek White his car, including the engine has been totaled after Friday’s crash. Long told CATCHFENCE.com and Popular Speed in an exclusive interview he may be able to salvage the dashboard, wiring and seat, but the rest is useless for the small team.
An hour after the incident, a visibly still upset Long explained he lost the best car in his stables, a Dodge, he purchased from Team Penske.
Obaika said his team will be available the rest of the weekend to offer any assistance to Long’s operation.
“We have spoken to Carl (Long) and we’ve offered him whatever we can,” added Obaika. “(Our) backup car, our people, whatever he needs, you know because it’s unfortunate, but we have to show some responsibility on our part and we’ve done that and we’ll help however we can. In terms of our weekend, we need to finish the race, but there will be some hard words at the end of the day, because the fact that it’s happened can’t be overlooked or wished away. It happened.”
John Monsam, the crew chief for Peyton Seller did speak to Long after the accident the veteran driver said he was “super heartbroken.” Long also added that Monsam is a good friend of his and that he grew up with and raced against Sellers, a renowned short track racer.
Many ask why this problems continues to surface in the garage and Long was quick to express his point of view.
“The problem is, on our end of the stick where we are in the garage, there’s no money, so the people that we hire are new,” Long expressed. “They are rookies. They’re not even mechanics because mechanics can make better money at a car dealership. But we don’t have the money to pay somebody six-seventy thousand dollars a year and you get what you pay for.”
The debate now becomes whether NASCAR should have to change their inspection process to ensure teams have secured their tungsten. Long added it would difficult to police since tungsten or lead is a key component of the car and often used to make adjustments during practice.
Long also said NASCAR officials already check under the car, and while it wouldn’t take them more than a few minutes to make sure the block (tungsten) is secured, the responsibility is on the teams. NASCAR will not go under the car with wrenches to make sure the bolts are tight.
“There’s no real way to police it other than to have quality people that is working on it,” he said. “Only way to have quality people is to pay them good money and even that, you can have a good paid person that can make a mistake.”
Sellers agreed.
“NASCAR has enough on the plate,” he said.
Long had hoped to run the full distance in Saturday’s Buckle Up 200 at Dover International Speedway. Long said his plans in his backup car were undecided. Timmy Hill is driving the team’s second car this weekend at the Monster Mile in the No. 40 Toyota Camry.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
