Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: 2019 aerodynamic package

  • The White Zone: Thoughts on Texas

    The White Zone: Thoughts on Texas

    Race No. 7 of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is in the books, and I have some thoughts to share with the class.

    The race

    Kyle Busch leads a line of cars down the front stretch at Texas Motor Speedway, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. Photo: Don Dunn/SpeedwayMedia.com

    If you follow me on Twitter, you know my thoughts on races at Texas Motor Speedway already. For those who don’t, I’m not a fan of the racing at Texas. For years, it’s been unwatchable, single-file snore-fests. And the fact that both races at Texas are 500 miles in length made boring races there more agonizing to watch.

    Maybe it was my low expectations for races at Texas, but Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 was good.

    The field didn’t get exponentially stretched out as the race progressed, and the leader didn’t simply pull away from the car in second.

    It was the race that I thought we’d get at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few weeks ago.

    With that said, however, there was still the ever present fact that passing the leader was a Herculean task. Yes, the number of lead changes were up from 2018 (26 among 13 different drivers in 2019 vs. 16 among eight different drivers in 2018), but by my count, only five of them happened on track under green. The rest were a result of pit stops, which tends to inflate the number of lead changes.

    It was more of the varying pit stop mistakes and cycles that made the race compelling to watch. Last season, races at Chicagoland Speedway, Las Vegas in September and Homestead were great races, because of the racing product, not pit road mistakes.

    Which is why I don’t believe this high downforce package is the right direction for the sport.

    Yes, it was entertaining, but it was in spite of the racing on track, not because of it.

    Compare it to the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier in the day. It had a great mix of pit stop strategy and on track competition that made it legitimately good racing.

    I know that “we’re in the entertainment business,” but I believe that NASCAR should treat its events as a sports competition first.

    Jimmie Johnson’s afternoon

    Jimmie Johnson races, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo: Kathryn Gaskill/SpeedwayMedia.com

    In 2018, Jimmie Johnson led a grand total of 40 laps, and didn’t lead more than 13 in one race. On Sunday, he led 60 laps, 150 percent more than he did in 2018.

    And while he didn’t lead a second time in the race, he maintained the second-highest running average all race at 7.78.

    Johnson had a race that was a step in the right direction. His car was great in clean air and had speed.

    “It was a little evil in traffic, and I had a heck of a time on green flag restarts, but really worked hard to get it up underneath me and tightening the car up a little bit for us to race,” he said. “Ended up having great pace and decent drivability, so are working in the right direction.”

    For the first time in quite a long time, Johnson was a legitimate threat to win, and at a mile and a half track.

    If he continues this at Kansas Speedway in a few weeks, we can truly say he’s back.

    Qualifying

    Let’s just get something out of the way. NASCAR brought this on itself.

    If you missed qualifying Friday, there were multiple instances of drivers blatantly violating NASCAR’s new impeding rule. Most egregious was Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer.

    And what did NASCAR do? They did nothing. All they had to do was enforce the rule they put in place, and we’re not talking about this.

    And now, we’re seriously discussing the possibility of returning to single-car qualifying for mile and a half tracks, because NASCAR didn’t enforce its own rules.

    This same thing happened with the restart zone four years ago and the overtime line two years ago.

    NASCAR, if you want these games to stop, enforce the rules you put in place, unless you want the inmates to continue running the asylum. If not, don’t have these rules in place.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: This new package has delivered more of the same

    The White Zone: This new package has delivered more of the same

    On Oct. 2, 2018, NASCAR announced the aerodynamic package for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. It was a package that, in the words of NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell, was “a focus on getting back to a true focus on the drivers and what NASCAR is all about — close side-by-side racing and trying to deliver more of that.”

    From the tire test at Auto Club Speedway in January and the organizational test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February, the package looked promising.

    After five races and four with the new package (including two with the full package), it’s been more of the same.

    The racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway was what I expect from Atlanta. The racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was what I expect from Las Vegas. So on for ISM Raceway and Fontana.

    The restarts and the first five laps after are dicier this season. The leader, however, still has an exponential advantage in clean air. While it’s much easier to draft with someone, tire wear makes it a Herculean task to pass — especially five or more laps after a restart — thanks to the increase in dirty air.

    Furthermore, the increased downforce and lower speeds have led to more on-throttle time, which glues the cars to the ground. We’ve seen cleaner races (in terms of the amount of cautions for wrecks). Other than Atlanta, where the tire management played a greater role, it’s easier for the race leader to pull away from the field. And even at Atlanta, there were times when the leader just drove a few seconds ahead of second.

    It’s just been more of the same.

    It’s hard not to feel let down, given the hype built up around this package over the offseason, particularly by NASCAR.

    “We want cars close together, we don’t want people falling off and going laps down, we don’t want people checking out,” NASCAR Vice President of Development and Innovation John Probst said during the Las Vegas test.

    “I think the rule package was put in place because we want to have the most competitive racing we can,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November. “We believe the 2019 rules package is just exactly that.

    These quotes, along with the aforementioned quote from O’Donnell at the top of the article, indicate that the big wigs at NASCAR expected closer, side-by-side, more competitive racing.

    This package, so far, has been more of the same.

    Maybe I could be wrong in a few weeks or a few months. Maybe by then, NASCAR will have tweaked the package to prevent a lost season. And maybe then, I’ll keep to the promise I made a few months back and personally tell Phelps that I was wrong.

    SEE ALSO: The White Zone: The light at tunnel’s end is growing dimmer

    Furthermore, the increase in TV ratings in four of five races this season has quelled my fears — for now — that the sport is in trouble if this package fails.

    I’m not ready to say this package is a failure. For now, however, it’s just been more of the same.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Some thoughts on Sunday’s race at Atlanta

    The White Zone: Some thoughts on Sunday’s race at Atlanta

    Race No. 2 of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is in the books. I had some observations of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 that I wish to share with the class.

    The package

    Let’s just get something out of the way first: It wasn’t the “full” aerodynamic package that we’ll see next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. So I’m not currently giving my “full” take on it as a whole.

    With that said, however, I had some observations on this version of the 2019 package that was run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and will be run in the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    The key things this package was designed to do, according to NASCAR, was tighten up the field and make passing the leader not such a Herculean task. And…It was hit and miss.

    Behind the leader, passing was relatively easy. You’d have to set up earlier in the straight, because the cars have so much more drag, but if you had momentum going into the turn, you’re more likely to catch the leading car.

    In terms of passing for the lead, there were still times when the lead car would pull away from the field; which is one of the biggest problems with the 1.5 mile track races. Unlike past races, however, reeling in and passing the leader wasn’t a Herculean task. Drivers like Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. cut down the gap to the lead car and, except in the case of Truex, passed the leader.

    Now it should be noted that the tire falloff, which was significant at Atlanta, probably played a great factor in being able to catch the leader.

    Bottom line: We got a taste of what this package offers, but next week at Las Vegas will be a greater indication of what we’ll see this season. Furthermore, it wasn’t a bad race. Cars could pass one another and catching and passing the leader wasn’t an insurmountable challenge.

    Bad luck for Ryan Preece

    Late in the afternoon, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece were running top 10 and looked in great shape to finish top 10.

    With 54 laps to go, however, Ryan Preece plowed into the back of BJ McLeod as he was leaving pit road and his day ended behind the wall in 35th.

    Preece said afterwards that he was looking down at his tachometer when McLeod dived down into his pit box in front of him.

    Buescher brought his car home ninth.

    Now one rather good afternoon isn’t necessarily an indicator of future success, but it shows that the JTG Daugherty Racing duo might be people to watch next week.

    The flu doesn’t keep Keselowski down

    Yesterday, Brad Keselowski sat out most of final practice, due to flu symptoms. Team Penske development driver Austin Cindric was on standby if he couldn’t race.

    He did, however, and won.

    Keselowski wasn’t the dominant car (that belongs to Kyle Larson). He didn’t even finish top 10 in either stage. He was even caught a lap down by the aforementioned pit road incident (he took the wave-around to get it back).

    What he did do, however, was reel in teammate Joey Logano and pass him for the lead with 32 to go. Even as his tires fell off and the handling went away, he held off a charge by Martin Truex Jr. with two laps to go to win at Atlanta.

    If he had any lingering side effects, he hid it well.

    It was his 60th combined victory across all series and disciplines of racing as a Team Penske driver, which puts him ahead of Mark Donahue as the winningest driver in team history.

    “I think any win means a lot, but that’s a big number. Now I get to wear that yellow Mark Donohue helmet.”

  • The White Zone: NASCAR’s ‘total culture change’ goes beyond penalties

    The White Zone: NASCAR’s ‘total culture change’ goes beyond penalties

    If you weren’t convinced that NASCAR was serious about going in a new direction, Monday’s announcements should do the trick.

    NASCAR announced on Monday that if the race winner fails post-race inspection, he/she will be disqualified and dropped to the bottom of the running order. That includes the win, the trophy, the points, the money and even the roast beast.

    This is a departure from a longstanding philosophy in which NASCAR wanted the people who left the track to know that whom they saw win the race did indeed win. This probably made sense at a time when newspapers were the only reliable way of following the sport on a weekly basis. But the rise of the internet and social media made the aforementioned philosophy out-dated.

    Furthermore, it’s glaringly obvious that, no matter the deterrent system, teams didn’t take the penalties seriously.

    “I think for us, we’re really looking at a total culture change,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “We’ve been through a deterrence model where we’ve really worked with the race teams at the track and probably been more lenient than we should in terms of the number of times teams can go through inspection and pass, fail and there’s almost incentive to try to get something by NASCAR, so we want to really reverse that trend.

    “We’re going to put it on the teams to bring their equipment right. When they come to the track, we’ll be much less lenient as they go through technical inspection with stiffer penalties in terms of qualifying, and then ultimately during the race, obviously we want everyone to be racing straight up.”

    The key phrase in that quote is “total culture change.”

    In this instance, O’Donnell is referring to the culture of cheating in the NASCAR garage. But it also can be applied to NASCAR as a whole since the events of Aug. 6, 2018, the day former NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and 7th-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

    SEE ALSO: Brian France takes indefinite leave of absence following intoxicated driving arrest

    Given that it came less than 24 hours after Chase Elliott, the sport’s most popular driver, scored his first career victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, many in the NASCAR community, including myself, were rightfully angry that his arrest was the mainstream news story.

    SEE ALSO: The White Zone: It’s time to remove Brian France from the reigns of NASCAR

    I don’t bring this up to bash France, as I hope he gets the help he needs. I bring it up because it’s a microcosm of his time as the head of NASCAR. There was never a sense of direction under him, or that he was even interested in running the sport.

    Rather than be at Watkins Glen International to watch the new face of his family’s sport win for the first time, he was partying in Long Island.

    In his many press conferences over the years, he seemed aloof and barely understood what was happening in the sport. One in particular was his press conference at Richmond Raceway, on April 30, 2017. Chris Knight and I were up in the press box that afternoon. When it ended, he got up and said “Well that was a bunch of nothing.”

    And he was right. It was a conference of fluff. Now it didn’t help that nobody asked France a serious question. But even when someone asked him one in his other conferences, he often tap danced around it. Particularly when it came to the 13-year decline in television ratings and viewership (which I’ve gone into much greater detail about in a previous column).

    SEE ALSO: The White Zone: The light at tunnel’s end is growing dimmer

    While the sport remains in the control of the France family, with Jim France taking over as (Acting) Chairman and CEO, the public leader is NASCAR President Steve Phelps.

    In his first press conference as president back in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Phelps demonstrated that he had a sense of the direction in which he wanted to take NASCAR, particularly in regards to the 2019 aero package.

    “I think the rule package was put in place because we want to have the most competitive racing we can,” he said. “We believe the 2019 rules package is just exactly that. What effect it has on ratings or what effects it has on other things that are outside of our control, I can’t say.

    “I can say that we do believe that this racing, which today arguably is the best we’ve ever had, is going to get better. We have a promise to our fans, and that promise is about close, competitive, side‑by‑side racing, and we believe that this 2019 rules package will give us exactly that.”

    To be fair, this package was probably well into development before Phelps became president. But it was refreshing to see the sport’s public leader address topics with substantive answers. And while he kind of danced around the declining ratings, it was better than Brian France’s “changing tastes” nothing answer he repeatedly stated.

    And this “total culture change” at the top has trickled down to the other executives.

    Last November at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR came out and admitted that it dropped the ball on sending Jimmie Johnson to the rear of the field, when it shouldn’t have happened.

    O’Donnell said it was unacceptable and can’t happen again going forward.

    Compare that to the year prior at Richmond Raceway. NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller walked out of a media scrum, because we pressed him on the stopped ambulance at the entrance of pit road, when cars were coming in to pit, that took Matt Kenseth out of the race.

    SEE ALSO: Ambulance ruins Kenseth’s night at Richmond

    Bob Pockrass turned to Kurt Culbert (the (former) liaison between the media and the NASCAR executives) and said, and I’m paraphrasing, that “NASCAR stepped on its own dick, tonight,” and needed to acknowledge that.

    When moments like the aforementioned one at Richmond was what we usually got from NASCAR, it was a total shock to everyone that it came out and admitted that it made a mistake.

    In short: The “total culture change” referenced by O’Donnell, in regards to penalties, can be applied to NASCAR as a whole over the last seven months, and there’s truly a sense of direction from the people at the top for the first time in a long time.

    I won’t be hypocritical. I’m still skeptical about this new aero package for a myriad of reasons. But I understand where NASCAR is coming from on it, and the direction it’s going.

    Time will tell if it’s the right direction, but right now, I like the “total culture change” that’s happening in NASCAR.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.