Bubba Wallace, Freddie Kraft Slam NASCAR Over Spotter Visibility Issues

  • Wallace says lack of visibility for spotters is “complete b——t”
  • Spotter Freddie Kraft claims Mexico City and Chicago races have dangerous blind spots
  • NASCAR allegedly refused requests to improve spotter vantage points at road courses

Bubba Wallace didn’t hold back in Atlanta, calling out NASCAR over safety concerns linked to spotter visibility at road and street courses. After what he saw in Mexico City and ahead of the upcoming Chicago Street Race, Wallace accused NASCAR of not doing enough to protect drivers.

“This was complete b——t,” Wallace said, frustrated by what he sees as a disregard for driver safety. His comments were backed up by longtime spotter Freddie Kraft, who dedicated a segment of his “Door Bumper Clear” podcast to the issue.

Kraft described the situation at Mexico City in stark terms: “One of the spotter stands was useless. Completely useless and that was Turn 15. You could literally see the exit to Turn 15 and the entry to pit road.” He added, “So, unless somebody spun out and was sitting there, that was the only time you were actually going to do anything, and that was the primary location when we got there.”

It wasn’t just Turn 15. Kraft said Turn 1 was “even more useless,” explaining: “You were down on the ground looking straight down this frontstretch. So, you had no depth perception getting through 1, you could see a little in 2 and 3 but you were really low, so it was hard.”

According to Kraft, spotters attempted to work with NASCAR on improving the setup. “We were trying to work with NASCAR, like, ‘Just make 1 and 9 the primary location. If you can move us up the grandstand, you can have a really good view and see everything,’ and they were like, ‘No, we can’t put you up there.’”

He suggested a simple fix: “There’s 30 or 40 of us, just block off 40 seats somewhere or two rows of 20.” But Kraft said the response was a flat refusal. “[They said], ‘Nope, we can’t do it.’”

Kraft emphasized the importance of spotter visibility for driver safety. “The idea is we’re here for safety. I know we do a lot of sh*t up there now, but the primary goal is safety. You got guys down there — you can’t see.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s Chicago Street Race, Kraft voiced further concerns. “They moved the primary location this year from one side of the frontstretch to the other. So, again, we don’t know what we can see and can’t see when we get there.”

He also criticised NASCAR’s reluctance to involve spotters in site planning. “Anytime we do something, we change a spotter stand or go to a new track, we’re all willing to go scout a new location out and tell you where we need to be, especially on road courses, and they just never ask.”

“They put us wherever they want, and we get there and we’re like, ‘OK, this doesn’t work.’ We’ll see what Chicago is like. … Mexico had a lot of blind spots, Chicago is going to have a lot of blind spots.”

With both Wallace and Kraft speaking out publicly, NASCAR faces renewed scrutiny over how it handles spotter safety, especially as road and street races become a larger part of the schedule. Whether the sport will listen remains to be seen…

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Jack Renn

Jack Renn’s a NASCAR writer who digs into the speed and scrap, delivering the straight dope on drivers and races with a keen eye for the fray.

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