Here's an intriguing story about the effects that a new safety technology is having on NASCAR races.

Through two highly successful years, the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barrier has built a crash-tested consensus in a sport where agreements are rare.

With 43 drivers, NASCAR often is faced with 43 opinions, but when the subject is SAFER, the reviews have been unanimously and overwhelmingly positive. In its smashing debuts at Indianapolis, Richmond, New Hampshire and Homestead, the "soft-wall" technology allowed many to walk away from mangled cars without a single serious injury.

Despite that, the track at Darlington is, by some accounts, not well-suited for SAFER.

"You don't even need soft walls at Darlington," Mayfield said. "We need to run close to the wall; that's the only place the asphalt is any good, and they've taken it away. It might take some of the excitement out. Darlington is worried about keeping their date, but if the race is not any good, they might be losing their date."

Mayfield and several peers are unhappy about losing a prime piece of racing real estate. The barriers, which consist of steel tubes and foam blocks, will jut 30 inches from the outside wall. Their addition will gobble up asphalt along the quickest path around Darlington.

It's not uncommon for new safety technologies in sports to have perverse long-term incentives. For example, there's no evidence that shoulder pads in football prevent injuries since guys just hit harder than ever. They might not dislocate shoulders, but they pop knees instead. It will be interesting to see if SAFER actually makes races safer in the long run.