Note: originally published June 2, it has been updated on June 4:
Jeff Gluck spoke to Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell about NASCAR's restrictor plate-draft duct package used at the All Star Race and All Star Open and they expressed "concerns" about greater use of this package. Their concerns can be summarized thusly - the cars were "easy to drive" and "you want them to be more difficult to drive."
It's an old argument against this kind of racing and it's deeply flawed. Kaz Grala offered a great perspective - "We're all just biased because we like to have more control in our hands." It's an insight into the narrowness of focus by so many drivers. The larger issue - define "more control in our hands." It is simple fact that the races with the most horsepower and highest level of throttle response, braking, and acceleration have seen the lowest incidence of passing.
The argument made here brings to mind how Carl Edwards forever pushed for lower downforce, and as Gluck notes, his opinion has now been discredited by the racing at Charlotte and Indianapolis.
Matt Weaver of Autoweek expanded the argument before Pocono in a silly missive claiming the sport's identity is "on the line" with expanded use of the plate-draft duct package. He rehashes driver quotes while ignoring the gross hypocrisy showcased in Kyle Busch's post-Pocono "Can't f--king pass!" radio rant during the Pocono 400.
"In a true sporting environment the best teams win.......I think that advocating for the 'All Star package' threatens the very idea of motorsports as a concept."
No, Matt Weaver, it doesn't. Contrary to Christopher Bell, racing is not about pushing the limit of the tire, it's about pushing your car into the lead and retaking the lead when challenged for it. Making this package more common to the sport doesn't sacrifice "sporting integrity" - which Weaver doesn't credibly define or seem to understand. "Does it really want to make over half its races just short of a random number generator? These are supposed to be the best stock car drivers in the world, not the luckiest or most fortunate." Yet Weaver cannot cite examples to buttress this argument.
The reality that making the cars underpowered and overgripped relative to everything else and making the draft more important is what increases passing now seems to be sinking into the sport more and more; reading the scuttlebutt the consensus seems clear this package will be integrated into the sport more and more, perhaps beginning at Indianapolis in September with the Xfinity series already running it there and elsewhere.
That some drivers still oppose the concept stems from their own myopia about "having control." Cars difficult to drive is not the same as difficult to race, and in the two races to date run with the restrictor plate-draft duct package - 2017 Lillys Xfinity 250 at Indianapolis and now the All Star Race B and A-mains - the racing saw prolific passing and drafting, which by any objective competition measure is more, not less, difficult.
The further argument made is that restrictor plate draft/pack racing produces "random results," as though a driver against his will is thrown into the lead by the draft. Such a scenario of course does not exist, which makes the argument foolish.
In the finish of the decade David Ragan won the 2013 Winston 500 - some think this somehow illegitimate because he hasn't followed up with another win, but that's irrelevant. The reality as shown here is HE made the moves to win, HE earned the win, there is nothing remotely "random" about it. That loudmouthed Carl Edwards got outdrafted by Ragan makes it all the more delicious
The bottom line remains the argument against this restrictor plate-draft duct package doesn't work - NASCAR wasted some twenty years fighting against downforce and nowhere did the concept ever succeed - not in 1998, not in the John Darby era running the garage, not with the ill-advised car Of Tomorrow concept. What NASCAR would have seen if it had figured out the restrictor plate-draft duct package in 1997 is easy to imagine - far more lead changes and far better racing.
And the argument seems to betray a myopia of history, for what transpired in the two plate-draft duct races run to date was as old-school as one can find -
UPDATE: The Pocono Green 250 debuted the package at Pocono and it turned into the most graphic runaway win in a while. Kyle Busch annihilated the field, breaking the draft with little difficulty, though he had to execute a highside pass into the lead in the Tunnel Turn. A penalty at the end of Stage One put Busch in the back and the battle for Stage Two was a close chase until on the final lap Paul Menard challenged for the lead and the battle became an eye-popping two-abreast sidedraft war all the way around, including all the way through the Tunnel Turn, something we haven't seen since Mike Wallace and Tim Steele raced all the way through the Tunnel on some three separate laps in the 1995 ARCA Syracuse 150.
Busch's runaway was curiously seen in some circles as a failure of the package when in reality it showed how well engineered his car was - one also recalls Busch dominating the Pocono Truck 150 (the closest approximation of this package) in 2017 before crashing out at the start of the third stage. Things got curiouser and curiouser when Busch's #18 flunked postrace - reportedly with an illegally raked left front fender.
A key angle is mentioned in Chase Elliott's postrace comment that the package works better as the cars get wide open, which they struggled to get at Pocono but which we expect the teams to iron out the more they work on the cars with this package.
1 comment:
Was a Pocono race for first race in years. First observation, all the race team merchandise trailers that were painted in the race team colors were missing. Only two trailers on the concourse. Other vendors under the grandstands selling generic merchandise and food.
Second observation, the race cars were on the bland side paint scheme and no outstanding sponsor logos at all. Some cars appeared almost devoid of logos. Only saw one car with taillight decals.
Third observation, the drivers could all qualify for a safe driving award. Completely non-competitive track position most times. No blown engines seen or heard going down the straightaway. I feel Kyle's pain.
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