NASCAR unveils details of Indianapolis and Michigan rules tweaks
Sprint Cup Series cars will have more drag at Indianapolis and Michigan this summer.
Cars at the Brickyard 400 and the August Michigan race will have a higher spoiler than has been the norm in 2015. The spoilers on the cars will be nine inches (currently six) and the cars will have a one inch wicker with bigger radiator pans and leading edges of the splitters.
The goal of the higher spoiler and other tweaks is to allow trailing cars to gain a speed advantage over the car ahead, especially on the straightaways. Turbulent air from a car ahead, especially if it isn't far in front, can make the trailing car slower in the corners.
"When you look at a lot of the data, and obviously you see it play out on the racetrack, but the belief is that the second-place car, if they're lined up maybe two, three, four, five, could have a five-mile-an-hour difference between the leader," NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said. "As an example, if you came out of Turn 2 and you had a four-car-length lead, it's the belief that second and third, if they hooked up, could head into Turn 3 up on the bumper of the leader and potentially have kind of that – more that slingshot that you used to see and the ability to pass. A lot of that we've got to see in the real world once we're out there at Indy, but that's the effect we believe it'll have."
O'Donnell later added on Twitter that lap speeds at both tracks could drop about 10 miles per hour.
At Indianapolis especially, the ability for cars to pass on the straightaways is imperative. Cars are unable to go through the corners two-wide at anywhere close to the pace of a car by itself. Kasey Kahne might have had a faster car than Jeff Gordon at the end of last year's race, but once Gordon beat Kahne on a restart and got out front, Kahne was not able to make a charge.
Drivers and teams also played the race backwards. With track position being of the utmost importance, teams pitted as early as possible to make it to the finish so they could make up spots on strategy.
The Indy and Michigan tweaks are much different than the rules changes NASCAR is making for Saturday night's race at Kentucky. The spoilers, splitter edges and radiator pans are smaller than normal. The goal of the tweaks for Kentucky are to reduce the downforce on the cars. The lack of downforce should slow corner speeds, meaning more time off the gas for drivers and, theoretically, more passing.
The Kentucky configuration will also be used at Darlington over Labor Day weekend. Will we see an appreciable difference in racing in a few days? We're anxious to find out.
- - - - - - -
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
