{"id":1965,"date":"2026-03-08T23:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2026-03-08T23:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:33:14","slug":"mark-martin-joins-forces-as-chase-elliott-flags-major-nascar-safety-hazard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/?p=1965","title":{"rendered":"Mark Martin joins forces as Chase Elliott flags major NASCAR safety hazard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even with the Phoenix race, people cannot seem to get COTA off their minds. That is because of a very valid concern Chase Elliott has raised.<\/p>\n

The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver highlighted the difference in conditions between the current Next Gen car and the older cars. He also spoke about why cooling shirts tend to fail.<\/p>\n

Addressing the issue, he said, \u201cThese cars are hot. You know, if you\u2019re going down the straightaway, the best example I can give is, if you\u2019re in the old car and you stick your hand out the window, it\u2019s cool and fresh air. <\/p>\n

Whereas now you\u2019re going down the straightaway at any track, but particularly, like, speedways are a great example because when you stick your hand out the window, if you didn\u2019t have your gloves on, you\u2019d probably burn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, when the current Next Gen cars made their debut, one of the top complaints from the drivers was the cabin heating up considerably, with the exhausts running along both sides of the car. <\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

In the older cars, the exhaust used to be on the passenger side. With hot air going over the top of the car, tailing your opponent could potentially worsen the conditions further.<\/p>\n

The driver further added, \u201cYou have exhausts on both sides, whereas the exhaust used to be only on one side as well. So you\u2019re kind of evacuating that air out in one direction. <\/p>\n

So there was always some fresh air to be had that wasn\u2019t already warm or warmed up if somebody was in front of you. So it\u2019s just a little different, I think, now than it used to be. I don\u2019t know how you fix that completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott noted that while cooling shirts have existed for years, they are now more common and have improved technology, though they still face a high failure rate in extreme heat.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Mark Martin, who agrees with Chase Elliott\u2019s remarks, was also known to never wear a cooling shirt, except for once in his career, during the 1989 Peak Performance 500.<\/p>\n

Adding to Elliott\u2019s remarks, he said in a tweet, \u201cThis is interesting. Great explanation for why today\u2019s cars are hotter inside than pre-next-gen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooling shirts can malfunction, leaving drivers with excess hot water in their system, which worsens the already hot conditions in the car, as noted by Kevin Harvick after the COTA race.<\/p>\n

What Can Be Done to Fix the Cooling Shirts\u2019 Malfunctioning?<\/h2>\n

Cooling shirts aren\u2019t necessary on the field, and many drivers choose not to wear one. However, the 2026 COTA saw drivers face issues due to the weather, as their cooling shirts malfunctioned.<\/p>\n

A.J. Allmendinger finished ninth and was seen lying down beside his car. He was then immediately taken to the infield care center. Even Alex Bowman had a hard time with the cooling suit at COTA.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in the 2025 season in Chicago, Shane Van Gisbergen also faced issues because his cooling system malfunctioned.<\/p>\n

On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin observed that the shirts often malfunctioned when the temperatures in the cabin rose, something Chase Elliott also said. Hamlin pointed out that there is not much airflow once the car slows down.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cIt\u2019s like having a fan on an ice cube. You\u2019re driving, it\u2019s blowing, and that gives you cool air. Well, once you go caution, your car stops going fast, and you shut the fan off. <\/p>\n

Then you don\u2019t have that cube pushing air onto you anymore. In the hot sense, right, the car just gets really, really hot during cautions. And I think that\u2019s when these cool units are failing. They\u2019re getting overheated and tripping, and that\u2019s when they\u2019re out for the count.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like Elliott, Hamlin also did not have solutions to this, as he said, \u201cI know that NASCAR\u2019s very, very strict with these teams on restricting airflow to the drivers and their cool units. All I know is that NASCAR really frowns upon diverting any air that should be going to the driver.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even with the Phoenix race, people cannot seem to get COTA off their minds. That is because of a very valid concern Chase Elliott has raised. The No. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}