Newsflash: Hell just froze over! Yes, there has been widespread speculation of the rule changes and a new look for the NASCAR Sprint Cup car for some time now, I just wasn’t prepared to get real giddy until I heard it straight from the horses’ mouth. ‘Round these parts, the horse doesn’t get any bigger than Brian France, who made it official.
“Big Bill’s” grandson says “our history is based on banging fenders.” Did I hear that right? Yep, looks like we won’t be seeing “Technology On Parade” like we did at Talladega last fall.
The restrictor plates will also be getting bigger on the tracks where they will be used. What? Horsepower is coming into play? I don’t know about you, but I always wondered, if the new car was much safer, why not let the boys run a little faster, provided they don’t fly into the stands? Now, let’s see what these drivers can do. One would think there’ll be a little less clustering than what we’ve been seeing the last couple of seasons.
Then there’s the elimination of the wing, to be replaced by a spoiler. However, this won’t take place until sometime after a full field test at Charlotte in March. After that, input will be gathered and the decision on “when” will take place.
Now that’s more like it. Speaking for myself, I was for the CONCEPT of the Car of Tomorrow- the idea of a safer vehicle and other innovations meant to address some of the problems associated with the old car. However, as others have said, it seemed NASCAR rushed into the implementation phase too quickly, and at least on the surface, didn’t seem to be gathering enough input from the people who make these cars go. I find it refreshing that this time, the NASCAR brass appears to be listening.
Heck, the rule book is even going to tell all the players involved what constitutes a banned substance. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity.
Now, with all the said, I recognize not all you disgruntled “old schoolers” are getting EVERYTHING you want. The Toyota Camry clicking off laps on Sunday still bear precious little resemblance to the one I can buy at the local dealership. We still have the Chase- something that doesn’t bother me, but that’s another story for another time. The “cookie cutter” tracks are still “cookie cutter” tracks.
I’m just pleased to see someone in Daytona has been paying attention. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: for whatever faults you perceive there to be in NASCAR, in baseball, they’d still be debating, talking and generally “lawyering” this discussion to death for another 10 years. Can you say “steroids,” or “designated hitter rule?”
How big a swing NASCAR took at improving racing remains to be seen. Time will also tell how much latitude officials will give drivers. I still suspect not everyone is going to buy in 100 percent on this, but you can’t please everybody.
Given the fact NASCAR isn’t averse to changing on the fly, it wouldn’t be hard to do more if needed. News like this is what NASCAR needs. Speaking for myself, I’m ready for Daytona now!
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The horse would be the sport itself. The back end of the horse would be the sport’s CEO.
It’s only taken them 6 years to listen to the fans. Even elephants produce off-spring faster than that (2 years). But is it really listening to the fans or an act of desperation since they’ve lost over $3 billion with the back end of the horse running things?
Until I actually see it with my own eyes, I’ll take everything with a grain of salt. Remember “getting back to basics”, “making the sport more exciting”, “the COT will improve the racing”, and “I know what’s best for the sport”?
More horsepower means more passing and faster closing rates I can hear the drivers crying about that after the first test at Daytona. This happened the last time they made the plates bigger and they made them smaller right after the drivers started complaining about it.
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