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 Major League Baseball has a legion of stars under the age of 25.
Golf has a 26-and-under movement in the form of Jordan Spieth, Rory
McIlroy and Rickie Fowler. And NASCAR suddenly has racing that is
more exciting with side-by-side action and more overtaking.
Given that NASCAR has enough star personalities, there is a general
consensus that NASCAR racing certainly needs more vitality -- a
makeover consistent with what people look for in sports in general
and get excited about in racing specifically. All of this comes down
to the relatively boring subject of engineering -- even if the goal
is more passion and excitement.
For much of the history of NASCAR, engineers were not welcome in a
sport where self-taught mechanics ruled the roost. Once they arrived
in numbers as TV money increased budgets during the 1990s, engineers
were still eyed warily.
Dale Inman, the only crew chief to win eight Sprint Cup
championships, has the classic attitude when it comes to old school
vs. the new engineering school in NASCAR. "All these engineers," he
said recently, "and not a single one of them has a train."
It is this attitude that made Richard Buck the right choice to
become the Sprint Cup Series managing director in 2014. He was
schooled by engineers as a chief mechanic and team manager for Roger
Penske's IndyCar team, where he participated in five Indy 500
victories. Yet, Buck, who moved to NASCAR in 2000 with Robby
Gordon's team, is a classic example of the self-taught racer. He
understands both the engineering side and the old-school approach.
Eyebrows were raised last year when Buck replaced John Darby, who
presided ably for 12 years as managing director of the Sprint Cup.
In addition to video enforcement of the rules on pit road, NASCAR
leaders clearly had an eye on making technical changes to the cars
to generate more overtaking, and Buck had their confidence to
oversee the garage. In the year before his appointment, Buck had
directed the technical transition for the prototypes and GT cars in
IMSA, which is owned by NASCAR. Before that, Buck had managed
NASCAR's Touring Series.
A season and a half since his appointment, the confidence by NASCAR
leadership has been justified with the midseason introduction of
"lower downforce" versions of the Gen 6 cars. The race at Kentucky
Speedway on Saturday night saw more overtaking and racing through
the pack than anyone could remember in recent races on 1.5-mile
tracks.
Next will come the "high downforce" experiment on the ovals in
Indianapolis and Michigan. If they prove successful -- producing
more drafting and overtaking due to a larger hole punched in the air
with 9-inch spoilers -- then NASCAR could be on its way to better
racing.
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There was an excellent starting point for the new "low downforce"
and "high downforce" packages that may yet give NASCAR a new image.
The Chevy, Ford and Toyota versions of the Gen 6 cars introduced in
2013 were relatively equal and well-balanced. The new rules package
introduced at the start of the 2015 season kept the cars balanced
front to rear. From that point, a midseason adjustment has led to
the "low downforce" package seen in Kentucky and the "high
downforce" to follow. The only requirements are tweaks to the
radiator pans, rear spoilers and front splitters -- plus tires.
Of all the partners involved in this year's technical transition,
the most conservative has been Goodyear. The tire company is
understandably concerned about new technical rules resulting in
embarrassing tire issues and blame for bad races. The company stuck
with its relatively hard tire for Kentucky, which worked well. At
Darlington on Sept. 6, it will introduce its relatively softer tire
designed to accompany the "low downforce" package that will be used
for the second time this season.
The burning question is whether NASCAR will introduce the "low
downforce" package at any of its 1.5-mile tracks during the Chase
for the Sprint Cup Championship this year. In this week's Goodyear
test at Chicagoland Speedway, the mechanical grip needed for the
"low downforce" package produced a lot of severely worn right-front
tires.
Chicagoland is the first race in the Chase, and it remains to be
seen whether Goodyear will produce a tire for use with the "low
downforce" package or whether NASCAR, absent a special tire, has a
plan B in mind.
Will NASCAR eventually get to a different set of rules for different
track configurations once there has been ample testing with
Goodyear? Thus far, the sanctioning body seems to have put in place
a program where that is entirely possible.
Engineering is not as sexy as having a plethora of twenty-something
stars. But given decreasing TV ratings, there's little downside to
trying major technical tweaks -- as long as they do not create
safety issues.
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