First, it's an abuse of the safety systems that are put in place to protect drivers. Those SAFER barriers are intended to protect drivers from the impacts of harsh crashes. They are not to be used like a pinball chute that plunges a car around a corner to bounce off of other cars at the other end of the curve.
Chastain misused the safety protections for purposes other than what was intended.
Second, if a driver misused a safety system required to be installed inside cars in order to gain a competitive advantage, NASCAR would disqualify that driver. So why allow a driver to misuse a safety system that is installed on a track for competitive advantage? A driver should be disqualified for doing that, too.
I don't think Chastain would say that he had complete control of his car while he was plunging around the track. That's reckless and a potential danger to the other drivers.
What if Chastain happened to rip up one of those SAFER barriers as he was hurtling around the corner and then another driver behind him lost control and hit the now-compromised barrier? That barrier was there for one intended purpose, to protect drivers from the impacts of crashes.
I'm not suggesting that NASCAR should take any retroactive actions against Chastain for his move, as there were probably no rules in place at the time.
But going forward, NASCAR must unequivocally state that the safety systems must not be used for any competitive purposes and are there strictly as a protective system. Any future misuses of safety systems, whether in the cars or on the tracks, will result in an immediate disqualification of the driver, and possible future penalties as well.
-PJ
Well said.