NASCAR President Steve Phelps said after Wednesday’s unveiling of the Next Gen car that officials continue to study where the numbers should be on the side of cars.
NASCAR experimented with moving the car numbers closer to the rear wheel in last year’s All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The teams also are studying the matter.
The argument for moving the number back would be to allow sponsors to have a larger spot on the car so their logo could be bigger (and teams might be able to sell for a higher price).
The argument for keeping the car numbers in the same location on the side of the door is tradition.
Phelps was asked about the number location Wednesday because the logo for each manufacturer was placed in a different location on the side of its Next Gen car at the unveiling.
“No decisions yet on the numbers,” Phelps said. “That was really the decision of the manufacturers, how they were going to do the styling of their own vehicles, the paint-outs, which wheels they were going to put on because there are different wheel options they could have. That was really up to them.
“We’re doing some research right now. We did some research when we did the numbers initially at All-Star last year. You know what, it’s mixed. There are some fans that absolutely hate it, and there are fans that absolutely love it, so no decision as to what we’re going to do on where those numbers are going to be placed. We’re working with our teams on it. The teams are fielding a study, as well, right now. So that’s kind of a TBD.”