Hendrick critical of Vegas walls!

If you saw Sunday's race from Vegas you saw a late race incident that sent Jeff Gordon hard into the inside wall.

The part of wall he hit was a unprotected entrance to the infield.

Special barriers are located in the outside walls at Las Vegas. But the track did not install them along the inside wall, which the four-time NASCAR champion hit in the closing laps Sunday. The force was so violent Gordon's entire radiator & transmission was ripped from under the hood.

"If the teams are asked to spend $8 million a piece for a car that is a little bit safer, then we need to fix the damn walls at the track," Team Owner Rick Hendrick told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "That ought to be priority No. 1, and if the tracks don't have the walls, then we shouldn't race there."

Track officials said track owner Bruton Smith was assessing the walls and anticipated SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers installed along the inside before the Truck Series race there in September.

"We would not do anything to the walls without first going to NASCAR, but Bruton has said to me we will take immediate action here before we have another NASCAR event," track president Chris Powell told the AP.

Gordon's accident happened shortly after a restart with five laps to go when Gordon made contact with Matt Kenseth, sending both cars into a spin. Gordon's car smacked the inside wall.

Gordon said the accident was the "hardest I've ever hit" and was highly critical of the lack of SAFER barriers. He also was bothered that the angle of impact was nearly head-on because the part of the wall he hit curved inward as an access point for safety vehicles.

After being checked in the care center, Gordon delivered an on-air message to the track owner.

"Bruton, you need a soft wall and to change the wall back there on the back straightaway," he said. "It was a really, really hard hit. It took me awhile to be able to catch my breath and to get out."

"I couldn't have hit the wall at a worse angle. It really tore the thing up. I'm really disappointed right now in this speedway for not having a soft wall back there. And even being able to get to that part of the wall shouldn't happen!"