NASCAR Sprint Cup Car to Lose Horsepower, Gains On-board Track Bar Adjuster for 2015

Photo Credit: 301763 Sarah Glenn/NASCAR via Getty Images

Right now, the immediate focus related to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series surrounds the 2014 Chase. However, with eight races remaining in the 2014 season, NASCAR announced a series of rules changes affecting the way the 2015 race cars will be prepared for competition.

For the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota race cars will most notably feature less rear downforce as well as less engine power. Trimming the rear spoiler on this year's car by two inches, the 2015 height for the aerodynamic accessory will be a maximum of six inches. Power for the V-8 engines propelling Sprint Cup cars is being reduced for the upcoming year with the use of a so-called tapered spacer (the same device used on NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series vehicles). Adding the tapered spacer, performance output available from the powerplants of 2015 cars is predicted to circulate around 725 horsepower. Other technical revisions for 2015 includes brake calipers, an altered radiator pan width and the reduction of the overall weight of the NASCAR Sprint Cup to 3,250 pounds without the driver (down by 50 pounds more than 2014 rules).

Another major addition for 2015 places more handling control in the hands of the driver. For the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, drivers and teams can choose to install optional onboard adjustment tool for the track bar. Teams have long exploited the track bar for dialing in the on-track performance of the stock cars on the tour but it had existed only an adjustment that could be made during pit stops. The driver-controlled track bar adjustment tool will be available as an active tool that could take work off the hands of pit crew members and provide competitors with quicker tailoring of the vehicle's track performance. At this time, one of the only other adjustments available to a driver inside the race car is brake bias.

Changes for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will not be limited to the cars for 2015 There will also be a number of changes made to the sporting and operations of Sprint Cup series. Destined to affect teams the most is the ban of all private track testing. This measure is seen as a measure to reduce costs and to prevent advantages gained by the higher-funded organizations on the Sprint Cup tour. Teams will be invited to take part in NASCAR-sanctioned tests or Goodyear tire tests only. NASCAR also noted that there will be no test at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the 2015 Daytona 500.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series will also introduce the group qualifying format that debuted this season at all tracks for 2015 including its implementation at the Daytona 500. At the road course of Sonoma and Watkins Glen, series tire supplier Goodyear is providing fans the chance to watch a race even in wet conditions. The Akron, Ohio tire company has pledged to create rain tires for Sprint Cup road races. Used more often in the NASCAR Nationwide series in past seasons (including the last race at Road America), Goodyear's rain tires have never been used in a Sprint Cup main event. Additionally, NASCAR Sprint Cup cars will be required to run windshield wipers, window defogger system and a red rear marker light in preparation for wet weather racing.

These changes are the highlight of a total of 60 enhancements made to the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup car rules for 2015.

Did NASCAR Go Too Far Policing The Talladega Race?

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images



Expecting the typical on-track action on the final restrictor plate race on the 2009 schedule, this past Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway has become more remembered for the action that didn't happen. Concerned with the aggression of Sprint Cup drivers during opening practice on Friday, NASCAR reacted to the untamed driving with a stern warning to all competitors forbidding bump drafting, or any contact through the corners. NASCAR warned they will actively watch the race during the driver's and crew chief's pre-race meeting indicating also severe penalties may be pending.

The effect of NASCAR's word put all drivers on a tight leash compared to the way they are able to race in the spring Talladega. On at least four occasions during the Amp Energy 500, almost the entire field formed into a single file drafting train void of any passing for approximately 20 laps a piece. Ultimately, NASCAR threat of penalties went untendered to any driver as only a few blanket warnings were issued. Amp Energy 500 race winner Jamie McMurray said in a post race interview "When I listened to Mike Helton (NASCAR President) describe what they wanted, you could tell it's going to be very hard to police 43 people." With McMurray understanding to the need why NASCAR needed to warn competitors against contact within the corners, second place finisher Kasey Kahne also reacted neutrally to NASCAR's orders responding "Yeah, I felt fine with it, really." However Ryan Newman, whose #39 Chevrolet was tapped into a violent flip and crash near the end of the race, railed on NASCAR in frastration feeling perhaps that NASCAR's policing of aggressive drafting early forced risk-taking deeper into the 500 mile distance.

As NASCAR experienced abundant growth through the 1990s and the early part of the 2000s, the emerging sports body knew that their formula was a winning ingredient for an exciting family-friendly event. The sport's expansion to present day brought new drivers, new venues, new cars manufacturers at the eventual loss of certain respected NASCAR staples. To NASCAR, the loss of 4 drivers in stock car racing competition (Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Roper and most significantly Dale Earnhardt) would greatly affect a once passive nature of NASCAR to their race formula. From the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona, NASCAR considered all parts of the sport of stock car racing as flexible in the name of safety.

While NASCAR had been cited unfavorably for influencing the race finishes with their deployment of cautions, NASCAR's first hard procedural change in the Cup series happened in 2003 when they would freeze the field under caution and allowing one lapped car a "Luck Dog" or "free pass" around the leader. Prior to the rules, Cup series cars were permitted to race to the start/finish line settling positions in this race to caution with the leader granting or fighting unlimited lapped cars around to gain a lap back in competition. While NASCAR brought the change in to prevent potentially race racing back to the line Some fans felt NASCAR took something away from the sport by instituting a procedure.

However, the noise loyal NASCAR fans created with the field freeze rule would only be a whisper compared to the enduring uproar for the Sprint Cup Car of Tomorrow (COT). Again promised to be safer, NASCAR expressed that this newer generation stock car would enhance competition for the series. Arguably the contrary proved true as the COT appeared and behaved unnaturally with the big Sprint Cup superteams still dominating race by race. In fact, the 2007 debut of the COT at Talladega was accompanied with similar alerts from NASCAR on bump drafting. Comparing the 2007 race to the 2009 Talladega race, at least the drivers were able to try and make a half-decent battle on the track in this year's race.

Ultimately proving unpopular with true stock car fans, NASCAR's influence on the on-track product will either be seen as an unwelcomed intrusion or simply the way the race must be run.

NASCAR says no the "Crabby Cars"

When NASCAR set out to create the plans for the new generation race car best known as the COT, it was the intended to limit the radical thoughts teams had long exercised in pursuing speed. After less than a half season of notes, NASCAR teams are now working outside of the boxy constraints of the new generation car.

After watching qualifying for the Spint All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, myself and I'm certain other TV viewers took note of the vehicles traveling down pit road. One after one, each race car had been side driving down the straights, giving the appearance deemed crab walking. When I first caught it, I thought it was the result of the track bar breaking. However, as qualifying progressed, it became evident that some crew chiefs and Sprint Cup team engineers allowed their skilled imaginations to get the better of them. While almost every car in All-Star qualifying exhibited this side drive including Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch, one of the more extreme examples to this setup appeared evident with Sam Hornish's #77 Mobil Dodge in the Showdown qualifying race.

Sprint cup teams will literally maintain the straight and narrow this weekend at the Coca-Cola 600. According to espn.com , NASCAR Sprint Cup teams have received a bulletin from NASCAR indicating new rules restricting car setups adding rightward toe to the rear end drive assembly which involved a drive plate and axle shaft. Though this side drive made the stock cars appear like wounded animals down the straightaways, the adjustment was sought to improve cornering speeds and increase downforce on the rear wing.