Most of the time racers hit the wall at an angle. Dale hit it head on. The impact didn’t look bad and the car took the hit fine, but his neck snapped when his head went forward. There was talk about requiring a line from the back of the helmet to a fixed point in the car but I think they decided the downside was greater than the upside.
Dale would have likely lived had he been wearing a HANS device. Almost everyone in motor sports wears them today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HANS_device