Drivers Making Wishes Known On 2016 Rules Package

Stewart is not a fan.

The debate continues over proposed 2016 rule changes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

This year’s package features less horsepower – via judicious use of a tapered spacer – than in recent seasons, along with aerodynamic changes that many observers believed would decrease overall speed and improve competition. It hasn’t necessarily worked out that way.

Decreasing the available horsepower has allowed drivers to run “wide open” into the turns at many tracks, boosting corner speeds and sending lap times plummeting. A number of prominent Sprint Cup Series drivers – Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart among them – have struggled to adapt to the new regulations, while complaining bitterly about them.

Like many of his colleagues, Edwards touts a future reduction in downforce, saying, “Center-of-the-corner speeds are way too high. Our sport is based on guys manhandling the cars and being able to run close (and) we've gone farther and farther away from that because of all the knowledge, engineering and dependence on aero.”

Bowyer: Rules "a little disappointing."

Bowyer called the new 2015 specs, “a little bit disappointing” and “exactly opposite of what all the drivers were asking for and hoping for.” Like Edwards, Bowyer said he believes more “off-throttle time” would improve racing. 

“If you’re wide-open and not lifting, I don’t know how you’re going to get around that car in front of you,” he said. “They’re doing the same.”

Stewart has been even less complimentary, unleashing a profanity filled tirade over his in-car radio following a 33^rd-place finish – five laps down – in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Stewart called the sanctioning body “f—ing rocket scientists” that day, despite watching teammate Kevin Harvick celebrate in Victory Lane.

Even three-time 2015 winner Jimmie Johnson criticized the package last weekend at Kansas Speedway, saying high cornering speeds are putting drivers’ lives in danger.

Johnson also has suggestions

"If something fails at the wrong point in time right now, you're going to hurt somebody,” he said. “Hopefully, we don't have that situation. Hopefully, the soft walls and all of our (safety) stuff does its job.

“Every driver wants more off-throttle time,” said Johnson, “(but) how you go about that can be debated for years. The easiest fix would be to take the tapered spacer off and go back to where we were (before the latest change). But the engines shops are cringing at that, due to the expense.”

NASCAR is clearly listening (if not entirely agreeing) and tested a potential 2016 rule package last season at both Charlotte and Michigan. That package included reduced downforce, and while there was discussion of rolling out those specs in this weekend’s Sprint All-Star Race, NASCAR eventually decided not to do so.

"We’re still having discussions with teams, tracks certainly, drivers and Goodyear," explained NASCAR Vice President Steve O'Donnell this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “No decisions have been made yet, but a lot of dialogue is going on. All of that is going on behind the scenes, where we continue to discuss (a rules change) and look toward 2016.”

Edwards, Bowyer, Stewart and Johnson understand that midseason rule changes are both unlikely and prohibitively expensive for race teams. They understand that the prudent course is to make small changes over time, rather than sweeping modifications that may need to be undone down the road. And like a kid at Christmas, they know it’s better to get their wish list in front of Mom and Dad (aka NASCAR), well in advance.

There’s a point to all the grousing, as drivers attempt to communicate their wishes – loud and clear – to the sanctioning body in time to be heard before the 2016 rules are finalized. There is a limit to NASCAR’s flexibility, however.  

O’Donnell said that while the sanctioning body would like to have its 2016 rules completed and in the hands of the teams by August 1, they will not make “change for the sake of change.”