NASCAR Cup Series: No more restrictor plates at Daytona, Talladega

Restrictor plates will not be used in the NASCAR Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway in the 2019 season.

Ever since the 1988 season, restrictor plates have been used for the NASCAR Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway to restrict the passage of air through the engines of the cars, thus reducing the horsepower.

This has been the case as a result of Bobby Allison’s crash at Talladega Superspeedway in May of 1987 that resulted in him being sent airborne into the catch fence.

The pole position speed for this race was an all-time record of 212.809 miles per hour, which was recorded by Bill Elliott. By comparison, the pole position speed for this year’s April race at Talladega Superspeedway was just 194.448 miles per hour as a result of restrictor plates. This speed was recorded by Kevin Harvick.

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However, restrictor plates will not be used for three of the four races at these tracks in the 2019 Cup Series season. The only exception will be the Daytona 500, the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Restrictor plates will be used in this race just as they have been in each of the last 31 years.

The races at these two tracks where restrictor plates will not be used are the April race and the October playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway as well as the July race at Daytona International Speedway.

The reason why restrictor plates will be eliminated from these three races is because of the fact that NASCAR has approved and announced two new baseline rules packages for the 2019 Cup Series season.

With restrictor plates, the engines make roughly 410 horsepower. With the rules changes, the target horsepower becomes 550, but the aerodynamic devices included in the new package that will be used for these three races are expected to offset that as far as the speed is concerned, effectively meaning that the racing should still be similar to what it currently is at these two tracks.

Here is what NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell had to say about the matter, according to NASCAR.

"“We wanted to keep the Daytona 500 as-is. There was a lot of engine inventory already out there. Teams had already begun preparing for the 500, so we wanted to hold the line there for 2019. And then as we started the season again from a superspeedway standpoint at Talladega, going to that 550 (horsepower) tapered spacer, we think will produce exactly what we’ve seen in the past, the side-by-side racing that fans love. So certainly we’ll learn some things along the way, but believe you’ll see very similar styles of racing at those tracks.“I think in terms of the racing and speeds, they’ll be very similar. We’ve got the ability obviously to dial that up or down as necessary, but we’ll certainly keep an eye on that as we roll out in practice as we always do, but to have the ability to make some tweaks if we needed to once that race weekend starts.”"

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Do you believe that NASCAR made the right decision to eliminate the usage of restrictor plates from the races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, minus the Daytona 500, for the 2019 Cup Series season? If not, do you believe they should have left the rules as they were? If not, what changed do you believe should have been made?

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