Welcome to the time of the year otherwise known as the annual NASCAR preseason. It’s that traditional time of year when rumors fly faster then an unrestricted Chevy at Talladega and NASCAR normally announces changes. Sometimes those changes are big, the Chase, sometimes they’re not so big, ‘we’re getting back to our roots.’
This year it looks as though the changes that will be announced will be somewhere in between kinda big and not so big.
The small change, and one isn’t really that big of a deal, is the use of larger restrictor plates at the season opening Daytona 500.
NASCAR met with teams and drivers Monday and one young driver let the cat out of the bag on his Twitter page when he announced ‘NASCAR’s going to let us use bigger restrictor plates at Daytona!’…Ah these young people today, so up on their social media, but not so much on their NASCAR history. Think back to last years race at Talladega, the one in the Fall. After the high-flying finish in the Spring race that saw Carl Edwards pirouetting down the frontstretch and injuring a few fans, track officials built higher fences. On top of the higher fences, NASCAR mandated that teams would use restrictor plates, those horsepower robbing devices that everyone loves to hate, with smaller holes thus slowing the cars down.
Teams did indeed compete with smaller restrictor plates, but cars still flew as Ryan Newman decided to take a little flip along the backstretch. Speeds were down a bit, but the smaller plates didn’t really do all that much in the end.
The next time cars will compete is on the only other track on the NASCAR circuit to use restrictor plates, Daytona International Speedway for the season opening Daytona 500. The change the young driver reported Monday, the same one that had bloggers fingers tapping away, is that NASCAR will go back to the very same size plate they used in last years Daytona 500, maybe a tad larger, but most likely the same size, no big deal.
What is a little bigger deal is the dropping of the ‘no bump’ zones at both Talladega and Daytona.
In yet another effort to try and keep cars on the ground, NASCAR issued the edict, also at last year’s Fall Talladega race, that there would be zones around the race track, most notably in the corners, where the practice of bump-drafting-when another driver bumps the car in front in order to gain a little boost of speed-would be strictly ‘verboten’. The result was a race that led many, including drivers from inside the car and TV announcers, to call boring. Long single lines of cars parading around for several hours until the end of the race when all hell seemed to break lose. In the end Newman was bump drafted outside one of the ‘zones’ and ended up taking a tumble.
All signs indicate that the practice of enforcing those zones at Talladega and Daytona will be dropped in the coming year. But some wonder why with the new generation racecars there were zones to begin with.
“The nice thing with flat bumpers, we're not picking each other up when you're pushing each other.” Tony Stewart said this past weekend. “That seems to be less dramatic than it used to be. When we had cars that had slanted noses on them, you could get underneath them, physically pick up the back of their car, wreck 'em. Those two things are variables that I don't think if they change any of that it's going to be a big drama.”
Another rule that will probably go away this year is the yellow line out of bounds rule. Only used at Talladega and Daytona, NASCR would penalize any driver who went below the yellow line and advanced a position. That rule however appears to be history.
“I’m comfortable if they take the yellow line rule,” Stewart said. “We understood why they brought it into the series. The sport has evolved obviously since they put that rule in effect. I think the drivers would be comfortable with it. We all know what it feels like when you get in the grass with tires with no grooves in them. It’s not very fun. It’s always been a self-policing deal. Even with the yellow line deal, we would occasionally get in the grass.
The biggest change that will be announced during the offseason will be the elimination of the rear wing on NASCAR’s new racecar, often referred to as the Car Of Tomorrow, or COT.
When the car was first introduced, it was bigger and boxier then the old car and sported a front ‘splitter’ along with a rear wing which replaced the old spoiler. Many fans and drivers were less then thrilled with the new car’s overall appearance and most of the fingers were pointed directly at the rear of the car and the black wing.
“I think it's safe to say we're taking a very serious look at the possibility of reintroducing rear spoilers," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said over the weekend.
Posten was quick to point out the change being considered isn’t a result of Newman’s Talladega tumble though.
"We took a car to the wind tunnel after last year's fall race and recreated Ryan Newman's crash to as high a degree as possible," he said. "Tests showed beyond any doubt that the rear wing had no effect on the way that race car took off.”
Posten added that the NASCAR’s input to change back to spoilers came from those it would affect the most.
“We talked to 14 drivers and all of them were in favor of going back to rear spoilers to increase downforce,” Posten said.
All the changes will be officially announced during NASCAR’s preseason media tour in Charlotte later this month.
"There are other changes we'll announce during the Media Tour that I think will be welcomed by everyone: drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and especially fans,” Posten said.
Fans and competitors have spoken and NASCAR has heard them loud and clear and will continue to do so.
”We're going to let the drivers drive,” Posten said. “If it helps us improve competition, we will move forward with it."
For more NASCAR News and NASCAR Commentary, follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments