The catch fence was "doing it's job" when it kept Dan Wheldon's car on track a few years ago, too.
I imagine that if Austin Dillon went cockpit-first at Daytona like Wheldon did at Las Vegas, we might be asking some questions.
Luckily NASCAR knows the fences need to be re-thought and are already working with a group on a solution and were doing so well-before Dillon went into the fence. It was Kyle Larson's 2013 wreck that greased the wheels, and a meeting at the most recent PRI show that got them turning.
IndyCar has been behind the project since Wheldon's wreck, but they don't have enough clout with the oval tracks to get something like this moving. NASCAR had a stance that it's cars didn't go into the fences and thus there was nothing to worry about, and then Larson's wreck happened and they changed their tune.
http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/for-nascar-the-safety-challenge-continues
I don't want to hear anything about the source, since that's the only website that's mentioned it and I can personally vouch that it's true.