Editors Note: This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and am looking forward to. It is called the Fan Panel. The Fan Panel is made up of 4-5 fans who answer a question for me and allow me to share it with you guys. Our first installment will include the opinions of Mike G, Mike F, and Jeff. If you have interest in sharing your opinion on things in the NASCAR Nation, follow me on Twitter and send me a Tweet!
Question: What do you think accounts for the fewer amounts of cautions in the Cup races?
Jeff: First of all I want to thank you for letting me be part of this. When I hear the grumbling about the lack of cautions this year, I am torn. Do the fans want torn up race cars, or just closer competition? The teams have been limited by NASCAR on testing for some time now in an attempt to cut costs. But now the vocal majority want to see more destruction? This makes no sense to me. I myself appreciate good close racing. I am not a fan of one guy going out and stinking up the show. In that sense I must agree that I have spent less time glued to the TV during the races. But to want dramatic wrecks is not the answer (however captivating they may be). I agree with Larry Mac, and Matt Clark when they say to build more drop into the tires. Goodyear has been working closely with NASCAR to build better and safer tires for some time now. But even still who’s to say the track temperatures will be consistent from test time to race day? They are only human folks! Allow Goodyear, NASCAR, and the teams time to get things as best as can be. I Remain a NASCAR fan through and through.
Mike G: IMO, the NNS and trucks have, for the most part, been exciting. I think that the cautions are a result of lesser experienced drivers trying to be competitive.
In the Cup I believe there are possibly several factors.
- the rule changes that Nascar made for the restrictor plate races has pushed the drivers to be more cautious because of the uncertainties regarding engine water/oil heat/cooling.
- there is so much pressure to perform well because of the sponsorship situation that many drivers are conservative.
- the points system is less forgiving for any “mulligans”. Therefore, drivers/teams are planning their strategies in a more conservative manner in an attempt to ensure consistency.
- there has been a high number of blown engines causing other teams to err on the safe side.
Mike F: In my opinion, the reason for the lack of cautions in Cup can be attributed to several factors…
1) Technology- Tires, cars, engines, and setups are better now than ever, and rarely fail like they used to (particularly tires and engines/parts)
2) Points- As has been talked about by drivers, points are precious as they always have been, but I do think that many drivers are being more careful in some cases so as to not get one of those dreaded 35th+ finishes.
3) Start and parks- I think this is a minor factor, but it does mean fewer cars on the track, and leaves mostly cars with excellent equipment that doesn’t fail.
4) Chance/perception- For some reason, this year more than ever, it seems fans and the media are more concerned with how “exciting” the racing is than ever, and there appears to be major disagreement over what “exciting” racing is. We’ve averaged 5.5 cautions per race, which isn’t all that low a number. And, the three races with the fewest cautions were at tracks where that should come as much of a surprise (Fontana, Kansas, and perhaps to a lesser extent Texas). That’s the perception side of it… otherwise, we’ve only had 12 races this season, which in comparison to NASCAR history is a very small sample size… it could be completely by chance that we’ve had fewer wrecks/cautions during the first 1/3rd of the season, and perhaps we’re in for more in the second 2/3rds.
Bryant: I think that the lack of cautions is a combination of things as well.
1) Progressive banking. The intent of progressive banking is to create more than 1-2 racing grooves. It used to be at most tracks one or two grooves to pass someone in, and the driver in front used that as a chance to block (which caused wrecks and tention), but with progressive banking, there are multiple grooves to choose and pass with ease.
2) Experience. Drivers in the Cup Series are experienced. The “rookies” for the past few seasons have been start and park drivers. With the exception of Kurt Busch. 🙂 He’ll always be a rookie until he grips his anger.