If you’ve ever wondered how they follow your favorite driver down the track at speed then it is likely, if you watched the Coca-Cola 600, that you now know…
The same answer also explains why your DVR does not have the last laps of the race…
A camera on cables and wheels is on a motorized pulley system that can run at speed with the cars down the track. The belt that drives the camera down the length snapped and the loose ends feel to the track slicing through the front of the #18 and tangling the drive and brakes of the #9.
Other cars may have experienced other damage from the downed belts and ropes which had to be gathered and removed from the racing area. NASCAR red-flagged the race but also set in motion a rare instance of allowing crews to check and fix their cars. Red flag rules keep teams from working but in this case the stop was unrelated to the racing and was a result of systems in place to show us the racing. (more…)