Brad Keselowski took to X (formerly Twitter) to vent his frustration regarding NASCAR’s safety protocols surrounding lightning. This came after qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway was cancelled due to severe weather conditions.
“Trying to explain to my family why cars weren’t on track today,” Keselowski posted on the social media site. “A few years ago, a man was sadly killed by lightning after a race and the courts ruled it was NASCAR’s fault.
“So now to get insurance coverage needed to race, we can’t go race, even when it’s not raining, if lightning is a few miles away.”
The RFK Racing driver and co-owner added that “some judges don’t believe that and it ruins other’s fun. Their [sic] is a lesson in there somewhere.”
Chris Buescher, RFK Racing Ford; Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing Ford
Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The driver is referencing the unfortunate death of Brian Zimmerman, a NASCAR fan from Moosic, Pennsylvania, who was killed aged 41 when he was struck by lightning at Pocono Raceway in August 2012. Standing next to his car in the car park of the track moments after the race was stopped due to weather, he was struck by lightning and later declared dead at the hospital.
The track posted warnings to its social media sites after the race came to an early end on lap 98, urging those attending to “seek shelter as severe lightning and heavy winds are in our area.”
Ten others were also injured with injuries spanning from minor to moderate after a second lightning strike in the same location.
This incident led to a number of lawsuits against both NASCAR and Pocono Raceway, and while the latter was found to be negligent, the jury found that the negligence of the circuit was not “a factual cause of any harm to … Brian Zimmerman.”
Despite this, insurance companies now require much stricter policies surrounding racing events and poor weather. In essence, NASCAR is forced to stop any racing if lightning is detected within an eight-mile radius of the event – something that was applied this Friday.
Instead, Ryan Blaney secured pole position for this Saturday’s race through NASCAR’s performance metric. Alex Bowman sits alongside him.
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