NASCAR drivers form council to 'make this sport better'

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

DOVER, Del. — NASCAR drivers have formed a small drivers' council that will meet with NASCAR officials on a regular basis, drivers and NASCAR confirmed Sunday morning at Dover International Speedway.

Approximately six to eight drivers met with NASCAR on Saturday night at the Dover Downs Casino adjacent to the racetrack, speaking openly about issues in the sport, including safety.

The council includes drivers such as Denny Hamlin, who led initial efforts to get drivers together, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

"The drivers, we always talk amongst ourselves anyway, but having that line of communication to NASCAR has never been this open before," Hamlin told a small group of reporters prior to the FedEx400. "You look around the room and you're like, 'Wow, this is a monumental time to where you've got the powers that be and some of the greatest drivers talking about how we can make this sport better.'"

In a statement, NASCAR senior vice president Brett Jewkes downplayed the meeting as something officials do on a regular basis.

"NASCAR meets with drivers frequently on a wide range of topics," Jewkes said. "As part of our ongoing commitment to foster dialogue between all stakeholders, we've met formally with drivers on several occasions this season, including here at Dover.

"We'll meet with them again later in the season as normal course of business. The meetings have been productive and we find the dialogue very valuable."

But Hamlin said the meeting was the first of its kind with NASCAR. Officials have held preseason town hall meetings with race teams and addressed drivers as a group in years past, but this is the first time in recent memory there's been this sort of driver council.

"We've been trying to get all of our drivers together for about a year now, trying to get all of our ideas in one room together," Hamlin said. "NASCAR knew we were trying to form a line of communication, so they helped us start a driver council which gives us that forum to allow us to talk about things we want to talk about."

Hamlin said the drivers included representatives from all three car manufacturers, drivers who were both experienced and inexperienced and competitors who were at both the top and bottom of the standings.

One of the topics in the meeting, which lasted approximately two hours, was going track by track and evaluating the current safety equipment.

Hamlin said all topics discussed in the meeting will be relayed to the rest of the drivers.

"In my opinion, the first process to making our sport better is to have open dialogue," he said. "You've got to get all the ideas out there as to what could make our sport better and safer. All those things kind of came to the forefront yesterday."

Earnhardt told Motorsport.com that NASCAR asked for the meeting and requested the drivers form a group of representatives through a vote.

"I'm glad NASCAR wanted to do it and I think it gives us all a better opportunity to sit down and talk about why they make the decisions they make," Earnhardt said. "We can talk about potential ideas to make sport better in a good, controlled atmosphere. It works really nice."