Hendrick critical of Vegas walls

Gordon's mangled car

Team owner Rick Hendrick thinks NASCAR should not return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway until the retaining wall Jeff Gordon slammed into is improved.

Special barriers are located in the outside walls at Las Vegas. But the track did not install them along the inside wall, which the four-time NASCAR champion hit in the closing laps Sunday. The force was so violent Gordon's entire transmission was ripped from under the hood. If the teams are asked to spend $8 million a piece for a car that is a little bit safer, then we need to fix the damn walls at the track," Hendrick told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "That ought to be priority No. 1, and if the tracks don't have the walls, then we shouldn't race there."

Track officials said owner Bruton Smith was assessing the walls and anticipated SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers installed along the inside before the Truck Series race there in September.

"We would not do anything to the walls without first going to NASCAR, but Bruton has said to me we will take immediate action here before we have another NASCAR event," track president Chris Powell told the AP. NASCAR.com