NASCAR May Make A Dramatic Change To Its Cars For Talladega
If at first you don’t succeed …
NASCAR is considering a new update to its Cup Series cars for the upcoming playoffs race at Talladega in order to prevent them from flipping.
After Corey LaJoie went airborne at Michigan, NASCAR added a clear rear deflector fin along the right side of the rear window that matches the one on the left.
It was designed to reduce the takeoff speed when lift is generated as a car turns sideways, but didn’t work entirely as planned.
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Josh Berry flipped at the following race at Daytona and Michael McDowell’s car also went airborne and turned 90 degrees upright, but was knocked back down onto its wheels before going al the way over.
The series has been back to the wind tunnel since then and its latest idea is to add a third deflector along the right side of the windshield.
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It would be the first time that such an element has been used and there’s no telling how well it will work in the real world, as was discovered with the last update. Several drivers including Denny Hamlin, who is also a team owner, isn’t sure if he’s for or against the modification.
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“From an owner’s standpoint, no. From a driver’s standpoint, yes. I thought that I heard drivers say that they didn’t like what was being proposed simply for visibility reasons amongst other things,” he said after the driver’s meeting in Kansas on Saturday.
“Certainly from aesthetic reasons, certainly don’t love it. You know they are trying to make the best educated guess that they can on what can fix it but you know, I’ve said a million times, don’t think that rollovers are necessarily a bad thing.”
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What he was suggesting about rollovers is that the seventh generation cars are designed to handle them while minimizing the forces on the drivers, who more often than not have emerged without serious injury.
NASCAR still hasn’t made a final decision on making a change for Talladega, but it should come early this week.
