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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

NASCAR's New 2015 Rules Package

Reduced HP and No Testing Headlining


By Richard Tix

On Tuesday NASCAR released its plans for changes in 2015. Per the usual in the NASCAR community, change hit hard and caused a social media frenzy with all kinds of opinions. I am going to reserve most of my judgement until I see the actual product with my own eyes. However, I do want to touch on some of the changes and provide fans with a place to get to all the links and stories quickly.


Testing:

"After allowing teams four tests at sanctioned tracks and unlimited private testing this year, NASCAR will ban teams from testing at any tracks following the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The preseason testing sessions at Daytona International Speedway have been eliminated." - USA Today

This seems like a plea by NASCAR to cut cost's, yet it seems like they are forgetting that it will still cost small teams a ton to get into areo facilities and have the staff now to keep pace with the big teams. This is just my assumption, though. 

"Any organization violating NASCAR's revised policy on testing would be subject to the highest tier of penalties, including a minimum $150,000 fine, the loss of 150 points and six-race suspensions for key personnel (crew chief, car chief, and team manager)." -SB Nation

So, heaver fines will be the biggest deterrent to not following this rule, which ties in the new penalty system from this past year. Team's may not be able to privately test but there will be more Goodyear testing that team's will partake in:

"Teams are still permitted to participate in NASCAR- and Goodyear-approved tests."
"If we can have NASCAR, Goodyear and the race teams all together, it'll be a home run. The second part is anytime you can minimize costs, that's big. We think we've done both." -USA Today

Horse Power Reduction:

"NASCAR is also reducing engine horsepower through a tapered spacer from 850 to 725, and cutting the rear spoiler from 8 inches high to 6 inches. Changes will take about 300 pounds of downforce off of the car."- FOX News

The real key here could be will it have the same affect it did on the Nationwide Series? Nationwide adopted the tapered spacer this past season and some fans have had a negative response to the change. It might be possible for the tapered spacer to not have as big of an effect on the Cup cars with all the other aero changes that are being made. In my mind this is the biggest concern. Maybe all the changes put together will work well, as I said I am reserving full judgement until I see it on the track.

"We believe what will contribute to better racing is the ability to get off the gas in the corners," O'Donnell said. "If you're able to slow down the straightaway speeds a bit, but really affect the speeds in the corners, where drivers have to make decisions on how much they want to get off the throttle, it allows for more passing in the turns, and it allows for tire manufacturer to really march toward a grippier tire. That will contribute to even better racing.

"Drivers said as the racing exists today, when they go in the corners, it's very rare to make a mistake. The car handles almost too well. This gives us an opportunity to force some mistakes and to pick different lanes. We think it'll add more dynamics in each corner, particularly on intermediate tracks."- USA Today

The thing I do think NASCAR did very well with (and wont reserve judgement) is the fact that they took a lot of driver input into consideration. This time around, if the changes fail it was a full effort by everyone involved (drivers, teams, officials, engineers, etc). Hopefully it doesn't completely fail (COT) and NASCAR gets even better racing. 

"It was like going back 15 years in time knowing you could actually pass in the corners instead of worrying about drafting in the straightaway," Matt Kenseth said. "You could get one guy on the bottom and one guy on the top, the air wasn't so turbulent that you couldn't get outside of people so the track got really wide. It was like the track aged 10 years and it was awesome. Everybody got out with a smile on their face." -SB Nation

I think the real issue NASCAR was having was the huge complaint of the "dirty air." So NASCAR took to all the complaints from fans and drivers (even when fans say NASCAR never listens) and tried to make the Gen 6 car better. It seems drivers (at least Kenseth) was impressed with the car overall in traffic. 

O'Donnell said the goal is more green-flag passes for the lead and "we believe that will happen with drivers potentially making errors in the corner, and that's not just for the lead, but the entire field." -FOX News

Overall I my initial reaction is that NASCAR is trying to improve the quality of racing. Will this do it? Wait and see. But its nice to see them trying to tackle the largest issue (dirty air) while getting input from its best source, the drivers.

More Changes:

"Other changes announced Tuesday are that NASCAR will also now use rain tires in the Sprint Cup Series at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. The rain tires are already used in the lower Nationwide and Truck Series races on road courses, to positive fan feedback." -FOX News

New rain tires will be brought out at the road courses in 2015. I think it will only add to the excitement that we have had in the past few years at these tracks. I just hope Ambrose will be brought back as a ringer for someone!

"The option for a cockpit-controlled panhard bar to allow drivers to alter handling with a suspension adjustment that currently is made by crew members with a wrench during pit stops." -USA Today

This could also help drivers with the "dirty air" problem, since they will be able to change during a run. 

"A new video analytics system for officiating the pits (judging whether cars enter the box correctly and lug nuts properly are tightened on tires), which is being tested during the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The 2015 system will rely on enhanced cameras and software that will be analyzed by eight officials in a high-tech trailer. A half-dozen officials still will roam the pits for communication with teams." -USA Today

Will a half-dozen officials be enough to police all of these new changes going on in NASCAR? Seems like NASCAR is heading the way of technology and forgetting the human element NASCAR teams might need on hand.

"As for qualifying, the formats will be shortened at all types of tracks, mostly to cut the length of time in the first segment. Teams currently are sitting on pit road trying to time when to run a hot lap, and NASCAR will try to eliminate the waiting.

The first segment on short tracks and intermediate tracks will be 15 minutes, followed by a break, then 10 minutes, a break, and a final 5-minute session. At superspeedways, the field will be divided into two groups for the first 5-minute session, followed by two more 5-minute sessions.

Road course qualifying will consist of one 25-minute session, followed by a 10-minute session.

The Daytona 500 front row qualifying will be done in groups, but the length of the breaks is still being tweaked as NASCAR needs to fill a 3-hour television window" -FOX News

NASCAR just seems to be streamlining the new qualifying format they brought into Cup this season.



As I mentioned above, I will reserve most judgment until we see the actual product. I have liked the steps NASCAR has taken as a whole (a few things here and there I think could be tweaked). I think the fact that they're trying to at least dive into the "dirty air" vs "clean air" dilemma is a step in the right direction. Will it work? That will be seen in 2015. Its still 2014 so lets enjoy the 2014 Sprint Cup Chase.

2015 NASCAR Rule Links:
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