It’s coming to save the Brickyard 400 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
It’s coming to solve the strung-out, single-file conundrum at 1.5-mile speedways!
It’s coming to strengthen the underdog teams and give them a better chance at winning!
Actually, it’s not coming at all (at least not this season).
Huh?
That was the feeling for many Thursday morning when NASCAR punted the All-Star Race aero and horsepower rules (or “drafting package”) – after a month of incessant hints and indications that it would be used at least twice more during the regular season (at Michigan International Speedway and Indy).
Track owners supported it. NASCAR officials supported it. Even some team owners supported it.
Drivers were less supportive.
The pushback from some high-profile stars isn’t what killed the drafting package, though.
This was a startling and abrupt about-face because NASCAR couldn’t secure the necessary buy-in from team owners, who essentially have veto power on major competition decisions such as this one because of the charter system implemented in 2016.
NASCAR chief racing development officer and senior vice president of competition Steve O’Donnell said the critically acclaimed All-Star Race proved the drafting package was “something that could work … but in the end, we all felt like the best thing to do was to put some additional effort into some potential tweaks and focus on 2019 vs. a race or two this season.”
A NASCAR.com story described the hopes of using the drafting package again as a “Herculean undertaking” and “one that could have resulted in a rushed output.”
Actually, rushing has produced some decent results before.
NASCAR announced a lower-downforce rules package barely a month ahead of a July 11, 2015 race at Kentucky Speedway, and the race was wildly successful.
This was less about a time crunch and more about cash flow.
Teams always can adapt to the rules put in front of them. But the best also will adapt by busting their budgets to optimize their cars, and that prompts a difficult question.
Are the changes worth it?
Even if the quality of racing (which is mostly subjective) improves, the majority of teams didn’t view the drafting package as a valid and wise investment, particularly if attendance remains flat (and if more tickets are sold, the tracks still reap the rewards without additional financial incentives for teams).
Millions were spent developing and optimizing competitive cars for a new inspection system this season.
Is it fair to say “too bad about all that R&D work” and change on the fly with the goal of “improving” the racing to build audience?
There also is an eye-of-the-beholder argument. Though Kevin Harvick won the All-Star Race and Kyle Busch led 19 laps and contended, would Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing approve a change to the rules that have allowed their champion drivers to dominate the 2018 season?
And as shown by the low-downforce package, whose luster faded after that smashing debut at Kentucky, the teams with the deepest pockets will burn money in wind tunnels to figure out the package and undermine its efficacy without compunction.
Privately, many team owners are tired of “fixing” the racing and want a greater emphasis on marketing and promoting NASCAR rather than trying to retrofit the competition (which has seemed a mostly pyrrhic exercise for the past decade).
So, is there any common ground?
Well …
“Everyone is aligned on doing what’s best for the fans,” O’Donnell said.
That might be true, but there’s an obvious lack of alignment on how to achieve what’s best for the fans.
For all the platitudes tossed around about the spirit of collaboration and cooperation with councils and committees of drivers, manufacturers and team owners, it’s clear the NASCAR industry isn’t on the same page with some critical topics – namely, on the usage of the drafting package.
Mixed messages aren’t new in NASCAR, a sanctioning body that once leaned on its stars to speak their minds while also fining them for having opinions.
But mixed messages color every part of the decision on the drafting package, which had become a daily topic of uplifting SiriusXM satellite radio discussion for gleeful fans.
–NASCAR spent the better part of the past month mulling the new rules — presumably because it wanted to upgrade its racing … but now it also will claim (according to O’Donnell in the NASCAR.com story) that “we’re really happy with the racing on track.”
–After the juxtaposition at 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway of the drafting package at the All-Star Race (38 green-flag lead changes, up from zero last season) with the current rules a week later at the Coca-Cola 600 (which had single-digit lead changes for the second time in three years ), the latter package now will be used at two 1.5-mile tracks in the next three weeks.
–The Cup Series racing at Indianapolis, the track whose action is most frequently identified as needing major improvements, will remain the same for a Sept. 16 regular-season finale that might feature a record number of playoff spots up for grabs on points. A day earlier, the Xfinity Series race at the Brickyard will feature the same drafting package that was a hit last year on the 2.5-mile oval infamous for monotonous stock-car races with a lack of passing.
Does that seem hard to reconcile? That’s the problem with mixed messages.
The most consistent message delivered Thursday?
Say hello to the status quo for the rest of the 2018 season.
Maybe the news wasn’t so surprising after all.
