Does the NASCAR Cup Series superspeedway package need an overhaul? Well, it depends on who you ask.
There are many people within the industry that would say that change is required, in large part because of the anti-climactic nature of the current package, the endless desire to four-wide fuel save, and an inability to maneuver through the draft like it was possible with previous packages, and even the NASCAR Xfinity Series vehicle.
However, following Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, disagrees, citing some of the loop data metrics from the event.
“When you’re sitting in race control and we’re standing up and watching, our fans are standing on their feet,” Sawyer told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday. “We’re four wide, in some cases we’re five wide, then they’re back to single file. Our fans are standing up, they’re cheering.”
“Then you get looking at the metrics and you look at the stats after the race, and you have 67 lead changes among 23 different drivers,” he added. “So, when we look at all of that, it’s like, what are we trying to fix? What’s not going the way we would like it?”
There were indeed 67 lead changes during Sunday’s 500-mile contest, although most of them were when the field was within fuel-saving conditions. That number is up from 66 lead changes last Fall, and down from 72 last Spring.
Each of the last four NASCAR Cup Series events at Talladega Superspeedway has featured more than 65 lead changes, and every NextGen event at the 2.66-mile superspeedway has featured 57 or more lead changes.
“I get it, when we start talking about short track packages, when we have a guy that leads in a 400-some laps of a 500-lap race,” Sawyer added. “Okay, we’re going to do our best to try and work on that and figure out what we can do. But, when you have 67 lead changes among 23 different drivers, I’m not really sure what we’re gonna work on there. But as always, we want to get better.”
“So, we want to have 70 lead changes, we want to have 25 or 30 different drivers that lead races. So, I think a lot of words there, but the short answer is we’re always looking at our product, whether it’s superspeedway, road courses, intermediates, short track, we’re always looking at it, trying to make it better.”
One Response
I gave this superspeedway aeropackage plenty of time to sort out the gridlock issues. Seven times in seven races at Talladega, the field got gridlocked 2×2 coming to the checkered with nobody able to make a 3 line work. They can’t even tandem together and go by on the outside. That’s not normal. We gotta fix this thing. The 4 wide formation fuel saving formation looks awesome, but if they can’t sustain that (or even 3×3) when running 100% throttle, that’s a huge problem. I’m usually pretty content with the racing at most tracks, but Talladega is my favorite race track. I don’t the racing product there to take a hit. I want it to be the best it can be. I actually have a petiton set up to change it. If enough people sign it, NASCAR will notice it. Why complain if you don’t at least try to fix the problem, right?