NASCAR debut new 'shark fin' at Daytona after TERRIFYING wreck

NASCAR has mandated a new part on all cars after Corey LaJoie's terrifying accident in Michigan last weekend.

During the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, LaJoie was racing with the #10 Ford of Noah Gragson when the slightest bit of contact between the pair saw the #7 driver lose control of his car.

Scarily, his car then turned sideways before flipping, leaving LaJoie skidding upside down for quite some distance on the inside of the circuit before colliding with a wall and spinning multiple times.

Fortunately, LaJoie was unharmed, but NASCAR has now rapidly introduced a safety feature they hope will prevent such instances moving forward.

READ MORE: Larson told he would 'CRY' in response to Verstappen brag

NASCAR mandate 'shark fin'

Ahead of this weekend's race in Daytona, Chief Racing Development Officer John Probst has explained the process behind the fin's introduction.

"After the incident we had with the #7 car at Michigan we went back to the R&D center, looked through all the data - actually had a wind tunnel test on Wednesday - and was able to get a bunch of parts made for that right side air deflector that should increase the margin for liftoff of the cars this week," Probst explained via NASCAR's YouTube channel.

"So, when we add say the roof flaps or the hood flaps, the shark fin on the left side, the roof rails, those are all added to make the velocity at which the car will lift off the ground higher, and when you look at how fast our cars go, they actually go faster than a 747 at takeoff.

"When you're going that fast over the ground, things want to get in the air, and, you know, we add, for example, the right side shark fin - that'll add about 15 to 20 percent more velocity until the vehicle would lift off the ground and in particular at the early rotation.

"So as you saw with the seven at Michigan, when he got into it with the #10, they were going about 194 miles an hour and it was going fast, but he's rotating slow, and that's the most susceptible spot for this car - to be 90 degrees to the air.

"The roof flaps aren't working real good yet, the diffuser flap's not working real good yet, so you're relying heavily on the roof rails and the shark fins at that point. If one shark fin is good, two shark fins are even better kind of thing. So that's the approach we had here.

Probst was keen to finish with the following statement: "It should not affect any of the on-track product for our fans."

READ MORE: NASCAR hand down UNPRECEDENTED punishment for double wreck win

Related

NASCAR News

Huge NASCAR names call for MAJOR playoff change

• Today 17:00

NASCAR

Busch announces switch to NEW racing series with debut date confirmed

• Yesterday 23:00