Cody Ware suffered a brutal crash into the tire barrier at the end of last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Chicago. Although he was checked and released from the infield care center with no reported injury, he revealed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that some of the safety equipment in his No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse was completely destroyed.
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“Pretty much everything from the interior of the car, as well as my gear, was killed in that impact,” Ware said. “There was a crack in the EPS foam inside the helmet. The HANS device was cracked. The steering wheel got bent up pretty good as well. I think it’s just a testimony to all the safety people that are selling us helmets and HANSes as well as steering wheels from Max Papis.”
The Next Gen car has been at the center of controversy over several safety issues. In 2022, the year it was introduced, there were three major injuries. One of those was suffered by Ware himself. He wrecked his car at the Texas Motor Speedway after crashing into the retaining wall on the 168th lap of the race.
Cody Ware after taking the biggest head-on impact in the Next Gen car: https://t.co/fXLFX9njYR
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 10, 2025
The Mustang hurtled into the tire barrier and bounced off the pit wall before coming to a rest. The accident left him with an injured ankle and forced him to miss two weeks of action. He admitted that he was worried about suffering a similar result in the seconds before he crashed into the tire barrier at Chicago. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
The driver praised the safety improvements that have been made in the Next Gen car for the same. Ware added, “I was pretty worried that whole way to the wall that it was going to be another injury-inducing incident like I had where I broke my foot at Texas. So I think the progress with the safety in the Next Gen car has definitely come a long way.”
Ware has no interest in being the test dummy for that progress, but he is thankful to see the difference between the two frontal impacts that he has suffered in the Next Gen car. Notably, Sunday’s incident stemmed from a loss of brakes. Several other drivers, including William Byron and Michael McDowell, had reported issues with their brakes as well.
Following the 2022 season, major injuries in the Next Gen car have drastically reduced. In 2023, there was a single incident involving Noah Gragson’s concussion. In 2024, Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones broke his back following an accident at Talladega. So far in 2025, no such injuries have occurred.
