NASCAR wants to talk with crew members who ran to Dillon's aid

On SiriusXM NASCAR 'The Morning Drive,' NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell discussed the horrific accident at the end of the Coke Zero 400 and what they are doing behind the scenes in order to continue to enhance the safety of the cars and race tracks (Crash Video).

The subject came up regarding the many crew members from various teams (including Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s winning crew) who ran out of the pit lane and to the upside down No. 3, making sure Austin Dillon was alright. 

We have to dispatch our safety equipment, those folks are experts and need to be able to get to Austin as quickly as possible

Steve O'Donnell 

O'Donnell reiterated that no one will be penalized for running out onto what could be seen as a hot track, but they did take some Hard Cards temporarily and would like to discuss the potential safety implications of their actions with the crew members in the days to come. 

"We just want to have a conversation with those folks," said O'Donnell. We applaud everybody who wants to run to a scene and try to help out. That’s something that I think that is really cool about our industry in terms of people caring about their fellow athletes. We just want to talk about the safety aspect of it.

"We have to dispatch our safety equipment, those folks are experts and need to be able to get to Austin as quickly as possible. Any second that we can’t do that because the car may be surrounded can be a challenge. That’s just a conversation we want to have.

"We applaud the fact that they care, but you know, it would be in the interest for us going forward that we respond to the driver in the most correct way possible.”