It Ain’t Cheatin’, It’s Just Doing Your Job.
By: Drew Hierwarter
One of the goals that NASCAR had in mind for the new Sprint Cup car was to reduce its dependence on aerodynamics. With the old car, aero was everything and the talented fabricators found so many ways to twist and turn those old bodies so that they managed the airflow over, under, and around them, that cars became unique for each track. The car they created to race at Daytona was different aerodynamically from the car they raced at Atlanta. And that car was different from the car they raced at Charlotte, etc., etc., etc. The new car, with its much stricter template inspection process, gave the fabricators less room to fiddle with and therefore, less reason to create different bodies for different race tracks. So what did the various teams do? The same thing they always do. When you take away an advantage in one area, they will look for an advantage somewhere else. That’s their job. That’s what they’re supposed to do, find the advantage over the other guy. Make their car better than all the others. It’s not cheating; it’s trying to find a way to beat the other guy by making your car just that little bit better than his.
After last week’s race in Las Vegas NASCAR’s post race inspectors discovered that the lid on the box that encloses the oil tank on Carl Edwards’ race winning car had come loose. This is a clear violation of the rule stating that this lid must be secured at all times. But, was this unintentional and caused by the failure of a bolt, as the team claims? Or, was it an intentional attempt to gain an aerodynamic advantage? Leaving the lid loose could possibly draw air from under the car thereby increasing the aerodynamic downforce and improving the car’s handling in the corners. Was it enough to make a difference? Was it the reason that the 99 car was so fast?
Earlier this week, Lee White, the General Manager for Toyota Racing Development, in a statement to the media, said that his company had tested just such a scenario in the wind tunnel and discovered that removing the cover over the oil tank housing created an additional 170 pounds of downforce! NASCAR apparently agreed as they have docked the Roush-Fenway team 100 owner’s points and suspended crew chief Bob Osborn for the next six races. But don’t call it cheating because Osborn and his crew of talented mechanics and fabricators were just doing what they get paid to do; find a way to make their car go faster and handle better than the other guy’s. If a team like Toyota has been testing this, you can bet Roush-Fenway didn’t have the only loose cover last week, and you can bet there won’t be any of them loose this week at Atlanta.
Speaking of Atlanta, all three of NASCAR’s top divisions will be in action on the Georgia track this weekend, if the weather cooperates. Rain is forecast for most of Friday, which will affect practice, qualifying, and the race for the Craftsman Truck Series, practice for the Nationwide Series, and Practice and qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series. Things should clear up later in the weekend however and we should not see a repeat of the delays and postponements we saw in California. As always, check your local listings for time and channel.