Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The new aero package that NASCAR debuted this past weekend in Indianapolis was met with mixed reviews. The reviews were mixed in the sense that some were good and some were bad. That being said, the majority of the reviews in my estimation (including those from drivers) were more bad than they were good.
Following the Brickyard 400 several drivers spoke out about the new package. Below is a quick look at what some of the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had to say about the new package via an article from USA Today.
- Kevin Harvick: “(It was a) “huge science project that probably didn’t really change that much. I think everybody put in a lot of effort to try to really make everything a lot better, spent a lot of money, but I don’t know that we accomplished everything that we were looking to accomplish.”
- Brad Keselowski: “I think we were all expecting there to be more drafting than there was,” Keselowski said. “I don’t think the draft was much different than last year and the penalty for being behind someone in the corner was more significant.”
- Kasey Kahne: You could suck up a little better if there were cars around. If there were just two cars, there was no gain there. The problem is you can’t go through the corner behind a car. It makes the inside so preferred, the big spoiler and all that blocking air, you can’t even think about being on someone’s right side — or even a foot to their right side.”
- Martin Truex Jr: “I thought it was harder to pass than it’s ever been. Similar to last year with the really big spoiler, there was a little bit more of a suck-up on the straightaway. But I didn’t feel like it was enough. You could just barely stay close enough to the guy through the corner to get to him by the time you got to the next one. There wasn’t enough there. We didn’t see much drafting, we didn’t see much of that pack racing style.”
On Monday NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton spoke about the package on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive’’ and he preached for everyone to be patient.
"We’re digesting the signs from it. The fans and the industry saw the race unfold as we did. There were certainly some components, the balance of competition, the opportunities that this package presented for the drivers to perform were of benefit, but we’ve heard the expressions of some of the drivers that didn’t like some of characteristics of the project.We can absorb all the of the science and the data we collect, including talking to the industry, the drivers, the crew members and the competition departments of the teams and the car owners to take all of that now and absorb it. That’s part of the reason we created this specific package for Indianapolis – to see the characteristics of it, knowing that there are a lot of personalities in the garage area that have different opinions … but it’s on NASCAR to come up with the one that we put in front of the fans on each individual racetrack each weekend. So, we’ll take time."
Time isn’t exactly a luxury that NASCAR has when it comes to the 2015 season. There are only six races left until the start of the chase and the season is already past the halfway point. While NASCAR’s heart might have been in the right place at Kentucky and last weekend at Indy, their execution was not where it needed to be.
I am not suggesting that the fix for this problem is as easy as snapping your fingers. Then again, it’s also not my job or responsibility to fix this issue in NASCAR. The people that this responsibility falls on need to start doing a better job of fixing the issues at hand. Whether that involves more testing, different setups, more driver input etc. they need to get on the right track.
It simply isn’t a good look for the sport when you tout these changes and what they are going to do and then we get races like Kentucky and Indy. Moreover, you never want the stars of your sport calling changes that you made terrible or bad.
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