Have all the changes actually made NASCAR more exciting? The verdict is still out
Two races into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and it’s hard to tell if the racing has improved in the series with all the changes NASCAR has made to try and make the races more exciting.
That hopefully will change this weekend when the series shifts to the 1 ½-mile oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A competitive race in Las Vegas could be a sign of what’s to come when the series shifts to Texas Motor Speedway on March 31 for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.
“You can’t consider Daytona because it’s Daytona,” said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who hosted the track’s annual media day Wednesday. “Daytona and Talladega are uniquely Daytona and Talladega. Atlanta I think that was a good B. That’s a really kind of different racing surface. That racing surface was paved the same way this speedway opened (1997).
“We’re on our fourth repaving job. That’s a dinosaur. You saw tires shredded from that rough, almost cheese-grater like finish. I don’t think we’ve seen yet what we’ll see most of the time in 2019. I’m going to be in Vegas. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Vegas is like because I think that’s more like what we’re going to experience here at Texas Motor Speedway.”
NASCAR made aero changes to try and tighten the racing, adding downforce and drag. There was more passing in Atlanta than normal and cars this weekend will also have aero ducts added to create even more drag and downforce.
While some of the changes were in place for both of the first two races, the first TMS-type race is this weekend in Vegas as the cars will have the same package in Fort Worth. So far the drivers have noticed some of the differences.
“I wouldn’t say it’s any more difficult,” said Ryan Blaney, who won the Xfinity Series race at TMS last spring and the pole in the Cup series in the fall. “There’s so much downforce on these cars now, you’re still driving, and you’re still on the edge. No matter what the package is every driver’s on the ragged edge every single lap. You’re just going so fast with the other cars and the spoiler’s a third of the size of what it is now. We were hanging on, especially qualifying here you were 29 seconds of holding your breath pretty much.”
While the changes may lower the speeds, Blaney doesn’t think it will take away from any excitement.
“I can’t remember the last time we qualified wide open other than a restrictor-plate track other than Daytona or Talladega and we were wide open at Atlanta,” Blaney said. “It’s interesting because our straightaway speeds are slower but our mid-corner speeds are way up from last year just because you don’t lift. I’m kind of on the fence about that. In the race you’re lifting quite a bit because that’s the way it should be.”
Atlanta did give a sneak peek of what could be with the changes as Blaney moved from 26th in qualifying to fifth by the end of the first stage, so passing with the new set-ups is possible.
And while some have been critical of the first day races, with Daytona’s finished mired by crashes and Atlanta by tire issues, the drivers don’t see it that way.
Erik Jones, who is seventh in points after back-to-back top 10s to start the season, has seen the potential the cars have with the new aero package. He believes that started in Daytona in the Cup Series race after less-than-impressive openers in both the Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
The drivers are learning how the cars respond on the fly, too.
“It was just nice to be racing,” said Jones, who has three wins in the Xfinity Series at TMS and one in the Trucks. “You look at Daytona between the trucks and the Xfinity races and those races were, especially the Xfinity race, just single file and not really fun to watch. I feel like the Cup races we did a good job of mixing it up all day. That was fun to see. It was good to see some solid super-speedway racing and everybody doing their job and putting on a show.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 5:15 PM.
