When the face of NASCAR’s most significant safety revolution speaks, ears perk.

Mike Helton — NASCAR’s president from 2000 until a promotion to become vice chairman of the sport in 2015 — joined Corey LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies” to discuss myriad key topics currently encapsulating the premier stock-car racing entity. Helton, who still commands respect in the garage and everywhere he goes, leaned into the conversation surrounding safety that has peaked in recent weeks — and also told a good Dale Earnhardt story or two.

RELATED: Listen to “Stacking Pennies” podcast

“I’ve got a lot of faith in the current leadership of the sport, but particularly in the leadership around competition and the leadership around doing everything we can every day to make the sport safer,” Helton told LaJoie during their recording of the podcast episode. “And it is a lot safer today, but this still is a very dangerous sport.”

Safety has been at the forefront of most discussions throughout the NASCAR garage in recent weeks as Alex Bowman was sidelined with a concussion after a rear-impact crash on Sept. 25 at Texas Motor Speedway. Bowman became the second driver to miss races this season due to concussion-like symptoms, joining 2004 champion Kurt Busch.

On Oct. 9, NASCAR leadership met with all Cup Series drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway for 75 minutes to discuss the ongoing work behind the scenes. The weeks leading up to the meeting were dotted by competitors voicing their concerns through media outlets. Helton, charged with overseeing the sport‘s safety revolution after tragic accidents at the turn of the millennium, understands the current driver corps‘ outspoken nature.

“We‘ve always had personalities in the sport,” Helton said. “Sometimes, it‘s different, but we have got some strong personalities. And we listen to everybody. Every stakeholder in this sport we have an open-door policy for. Most of that works. Every now and then, you get, for whatever reason, it doesn‘t work. So they feel the best way to communicate their issues is not directly with us but through the media or through digital and social, which is kind of a modern version of the consumption of all of our sport, on and off the race track.”

Helton also noted that some of the criticism that seeps through the airwaves and digital screens lacks the full context necessary to produce fruitful discussions.

“I think it‘s unfair to us knowing that we‘re working on all these things, and we‘ll be glad to communicate with the ones that want to do it their way,” Helton said. “And if [they are] sincere and they‘re factual about what they say, that‘s one thing. But when they say only part of it and not all the facts along with it, I just don‘t feel that‘s fair for the league, and it‘s unfortunate.”

The NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, opened in 2003 with a focus on establishing higher safety standards throughout the sport. That remains a key priority nearly 20 years later as cars and equipment continue to develop.

“A perfect storm is going to happen, or just an accident at a race track can still happen, and it’s still a very dangerous sport,” Helton said. “So that topic of safety is chased every day, eight, 10 hours a day at the R&D Center. … And sometimes the answers are easy. Sometimes, the answers aren‘t easy to find. But you constantly chase that topic. And so when the topic of safe race car comes up in a NASCAR race, and people say these cars aren‘t safe, I know that NASCAR is not going to put an unsafe car on the race track. Now it may have different characteristics. It may act differently. And if it does, then that is something that we need to correct, and we‘re going to work with the garage area and figure out how to do that.”

Helton also highlighted several other topics during the nearly 50-minute discussion, including:

• How Dale Earnhardt would get his point across to NASCAR officials (“He would eat our lunch”);

• The difference in communication styles with Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in the late 90s (“You felt better when you walked away with Jeff. When Dale left, you’re feeling like you got beat with a baseball bat”);

• The growth and development of — and the importance of bridging the gap with — Ben Kennedy;

• Why he keeps the really good “called to the hauler” stories to himself;

• And what it means to be honored with the 2023 Landmark Award for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

RELATED: Listen to full episode here