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Rule change: NASCAR eliminating driver-adjustable track bar in 2019

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander Outdoors 400

DOVER, DE - OCTOBER 07: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway on October 7, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

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NASCAR, citing driver feedback, will do away with the driver-adjustable track bar after this season, a series executive said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Scott Miller, senior vice president of competition, revealed the change on “The Morning Drive.”

“Many (drivers) came to us and said, ‘hey, look this really didn’t do what we hoped for and we’d rather not have it,’ Miller said. “Part of the 2019 rules is that the cockpit-adjustable track bar is no longer in play.”

Drivers have had the devices since 2015. It’s allowed them to move the track bar during practice, qualifying and the race to improve the car’s balance. That meant that a driver didn’t have to wait to until the next pit stop to make a change during a race.

Todd Gordon, crew chief for Joey Logano, told “The Morning Drive” that he thought eliminating the driver-adjustable track bar “is going to be good for racing.

“It’s going to be complex for us as crew chiefs and crews. If you go back to before we had the driver-adjustable track bar, the track bar was another adjustment. You could put wedge in with either one of the jack bolts in the rear window or you could run the track bar up and down with an adjuster there. We’ll have to go back to doing that, but we’re doing that with one less pit crew guy than we used to. It will be interesting to see how that happens.

“Right now, if I miss an adjustment or I went the wrong way on a wedge adjustment, the driver has the ability with a button to find his balance back with the driver-adjustable track bar. Next year, we won’t be able to do that and the drivers are going to have to hang on with a car that is not perfectly handling until we get another shot at working on it.”

NASCAR announced Oct. 2 that the 2019 Cup rules package will include a higher downforce package and the use of a tapered spacer to limit engines to 550 horsepower at tracks 1.33 miles and a larger. Tracks shorter than 1.33 miles will see engine horsepower limits at 750 horsepower.