NASCAR To Institute More Changes To Reduce Downforce, Increase Drivers’ Racing Action

NASCAR has tests planned to continue instituting more changes to reduce downforce in order to improve racing, it has announced.

NASCAR To Institute More Changes To Reduce Downforce, Increase Drivers’ Racing Action

After all, drivers love having cars that are looser on the track and that provide them with greater chances to pass.

As expected after the Sprint All-Star Race, based on changes and testing this season NASCAR said Thursday it will do tests at Michigan and Kentucky with car component changes that take away even more downforce.

Downforce, the aerodynamic effect that helps keep a car in tight contact with the track, prevents slipping and sliding in the corners. However, it also lowers a driver’s ability to control his or her car.

“From the driver’s perspective it’s a way better package to drive,” Carl Edwards told media members earlier this season. “You can make some things happen. … NASCAR can make more progress just by keeping going in this direction.”

Edwards then continued, “Fans that know what they’re watching, know that we’re just driving, wheeling as hard as you can. My shoulders are worn out.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed.

“I love that the cars are harder to drive,” he said after the Atlanta race. “I think all the drivers wanted that, and I think all the drivers will get out of it after today, even the ones that didn’t run good, and say this is the right direction to go.”

Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR’s vice president of innovation and racing development, informed media members that the association hopes to reduce downforce to about 1,500 pounds. In 2015, cars had approximately 2,700 pounds of downforce.

The changes will imply cutting off another inch off spoiler height and a foot off width, as well as reducing splinter width to 2 inches, a slice of 3 inches. There will be no skew or rear-end toe, and the decklid fin will be tapered. In short, the size of the splitter that sits below a car’s nose will be decreased.

To put that in perspective, a Toyota Yaris weighs about 2,300 pounds. NASCAR is taking the aerodynamic weight of a Yaris off cars and replacing it with the weight of a grizzly bear.

For the All-Star Race, NASCAR had teams make changes to reduce suction created by fans designed to cool brakes.

The plan, NASCAR announced Thursday: Take away another 500 pounds of downforce on top of the 900 removed with 2016’s rules. If the Michigan and Kentucky race tests prove successful, downforce reductions will be mandated for 2017.

PHOTO: AVONDALE, AZ – NOVEMBER 15:  Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 15, 2015 in Avondale, Arizona.  (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)