NASCAR To Address SAFER Barrier Issue
"That's on us," said O'Donnell. "We're going to fix it. We're going to fix it immediately."
Busch was involved in a multi-car crash with seven laps to go in Saturday's 120-lap race, causing his car to go out of control and strike an area if the infield wall not protected by a SAFER barrier.
Busch was able emerge from the car but was immediately transported to a local hospital with a leg injury and will miss Sunday's Daytona 500.
"The Daytona International Speedway did not live up to its responsibility today. We should have had a SAFER barrier there today, we did not.," said Daytona Speedway president Joie Chitwood. "We're going to fix that. We're going to fix that right now.
We've got the team out tonight. We're going to install tire packs along that 850-foot linear square feet of wall, so we're ready to go racing tomorrow. Following that, the Daytona International Speedway is going to install SAFER barrier on every inch at this property.
"This is not going to happen again. We're going to live up to our responsibility. We're going to fix this and it starts right now. We don't want to see any competitors injured here."
Asked why there wasn't already a SAFER barrier in place in that part of the track, Chitwood said "I don't have a good answer for that" but also said the cost of installing the barriers wasn't an issue.
"For us, we really can't look at financials as a reason for this. We have to have a venue which we can put on NASCAR racing and have competitors be safe," said Chitwood. "Come Monday, we're going to start the plan so we can put SAFER barrier everywhere here. Finances don't come into play. That's really not a question. We're going to get this fixed and be sure we're ready for the next event here."