Cooling Down

NASCAR Changes Course and Allow's Cooling Units

By Richard Tix

News came out Tuesday that NASCAR was back tracking from its initial rule that teams could not use cooling units on pit road.  This rule was creating teams and drivers to try and find a way to cool down there engines after a "hot lap." The only way team's could do this was to run a few "cool down laps," or in simpler terms, run around the inside of the track at a very slow pace while other cars were whizzing by doing 190 MPH. 

This cool down lap idea was ok at best even at tracks like Las Vegas where the track has plenty of space, but this week NASCAR heads to Bristol and was heading into a huge problem.  Owners, driver, media, and fans on twitter were calling for a change. Brian Vickers was asked about the new qualifying and had this to say, “That’s the most dangerous thing I've ever done in a race car.” Everyone wanted a change before it was too late, before an incident happened and it could have been avoided. 

All of this has happened because of NASCAR's new Knock Out style of qualifying. It has made qualifying more exciting as a fan and the teams have to use new and different strategy but it also created this new danger. This new danger was finally addressed on Tuesday with the news that teams can now use a cool down unit on pit road.

This unit will be attached to the hood of the car through hood flaps and will ban the use of a cool down lap. The hood of the car must remained closed during the sessions because NASCAR doesn't want teams messing around with the engine when they aren't looking. 

I think this is a step in the right direction that NASCAR has taken. Maybe it shouldn't have taken so long to change, but at least it got done before we had a major incident and left fans wondering why we waited so long. This move should add to the new excitement around the Knock Out style qualifying because teams now should be able to make a few extra runs by eliminating so many cool down laps.

I think NASCAR still should be looking at improving the qualifying system throughout the year. NASCAR got the big one out of the way in banning cool down laps, but I think how teams start before the session still needs tweaking. Over 40 drivers all backing out of there spots at once, all at different angles and speeds seems to also be a risk NASCAR is gambling with. 

This issue can be adjusted along the way, after all at least the cars are not at such drastic speed differences, but it still doesn't seem to be the safest of ways. It also seems NASCAR maybe having trouble keeping the pit road speed in line during these scrambles, because it has seemed a few times that guys have been flying down pit road with other drivers trying to back out. 

In no way did this cooling adjustment to qualifying make this new format perfect, but it was a good step in the right direction that needed to happen. I think it will still be tough to see the impact of this decision at Bristol. Teams would have already needed less cool down time with track times being around 14-16 seconds. "It's going to be a tough one. I think the cooling will be obviously a little bit better this week just from the fact that it's 15 second laps, the engine temps won't get quite as high," Paul Wolfe, crew chief for Brad Keselowski, said earlier Tuesday. "But yeah, trying to go out and cool down at Bristol, that could be a potential issue. There's really no room to get out of the way, unless you're just running around on the flat part there on the apron."

Also, teams will still be in and out of the pits at different times, which will always cause at problem at a slow track. There will still be guys on "hot laps" with others coming off pit road after cooling down traveling at a much slower pace, but in general this is a much better idea for most tracks. At least now we don't have to hold our breadth week to week hoping a huge accident that could have been avoided happens.