While everyone has a different opinion on what would fix it, frustration has continued to mount among drivers, fans, media, and everybody in the industry about the wild levels of fuel conservation that we’ve seen at Superspeedway races so far during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
On Wednesday, NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer addressed the issue in an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Morning Drive. While Sawyer says the sanctioning body is looking at the situation, he cautions that the sport rapidly changes and that the fuel conservation situation may irradicate itself sooner rather than later.
?? "I think we can look at things in collaboration with our TV partners and teams."
? #NASCAR's Elton Sawyer addressed the fuel saving on super speedways.
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“We are looking at that. If we feel like there are changes that need to be made, I don’t know that there is a fix, I think we can look at things in collaboration with our TV partners, our teams to make a change if we all feel like we need to,” Sawyer explained. “But again, if you look at it over time, there will be something new that will come down the road in Superspeedway racing. I think all-in-all, that’s the great part of our sport. The unknowns that come with it.”
When pressed on if the sport would change the laps at which the Stages would fall or even include an additional Stage in the race in order to take fuel mileage out of the consideration, Sawyer said that the sanctioning body is looking at all options.
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s off the table, Pete,” Sawyer said. “I think when you look at it, it’s do you want to take fuel mileage completely out of the event? And sure, you can do that by where we put the Stage Breaks. You can do that. If that’s what, from an entertainment value we’ve talked about that over the last couple of weeks, does that add to the value of our product at Superspeedways? Does it take away from it? There’s, I’m sure there are fans that really for the most part enjoyed what they saw on Sunday. And then there’s others that had a different view. Again, I think that’s the great part about our sport. And our passionate fans about what they like to see, what they don’t want to see, and it’s kind of our job to be able to put all of that in the hopper and come out with a good product.”
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 featured 72 lead changes, which sounds nice in a box score, but the reality of the number of lead changes is that they primarily came as drivers actively played hot potato with the race lead while attempting to slow their pace further to save even more gas for the majority of Stages 1, 2, and 3.
Why are drivers and teams so worried about saving fuel at Superspeedway races?
Less fuel burned means that less fuel needs to be added during the pit stops in the Stages of the race. Less fuel needed means faster pit stops for drivers and teams, which ultimately helps them nab the important track position they needed to compete for the Stage Wins and ultimately, the race win.
At points in the race, the lap times of the usually thunderous pack had reached the 55-second bracket.
To put the incredible slowing of the pace in perspective, single-car qualifying laps were in the 52-second bracket, and the fastest lap of Sunday’s race in the draft was in the 48-second bracket.
