Sanctioning body will bring teams down pit road for manipulation
RELATED: NASCAR announces 2015 rule changes
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will no longer be allowed to alter their car’s side skirts during an event, a practice that became widespread during the 2014 season.
At the NASCAR State of the Sport to kick off the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said the sanctioning body will bring cars back down pit road if officials see that the side skirts have been manipulated during a pit stop in the race.
O’Donnell said it would police flared skirts “by any means possible,” including use of the new pit road technology that will make its debut during Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.
Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition and racing development said the practice was allowed to continue last season because officials “didn’t want to change how we were policing things in the middle of the Chase.
“We knew at the end of the year there was work to do on our part in how we policed it in 2015,” he said.
“We’ll do that with our pit road cameras, we’ll do that with our video replay system and we’ll do that with our officials on pit road.”
For 2015, NASCAR will police pit road through the use of 45 cameras (located on the grandstand side of the track) that will feed video back to a central location. Software written into the system will alert officials to any potential violations. There will also be 10 officials roaming pit road to monitor pit stops.
If it is determined that a team has altered the side skirt, Pemberton said the team will be required to correct the issue at that time.
“If we somebody physically pulling it out, or doing something to make it come out, we’ll react. We’ll make them fix it (during the race),” he said.
The pieces, officially known as vertical rocker panel extensions, are located along the bottom of the car’s body between the front and rear tires. They help seal the area between the bottom of the car’s chassis and the track surface, limiting airflow underneath the vehicle.
Unlike the thin sheet metal that covers most of the car, the pieces are made of hard plastic, which limits damage when they come into contact with the surface of the track.
However, one short section of the right-side piece, located between the exhaust area and the rear tire, is constructed of metal to withstand heat from the car’s exhaust.
And it’s that piece that drew the interest of officials as teams began to pull out or “flare” the metal portion in an attempt to improve downforce as the car traveled through the turns. The greater the pressure generated, the better the car moves through the corner, allowing the driver to maintain speed.
Not all teams were flaring the pieces last season, but those that did typically would make the adjustment during an early pit stop.
NASCAR allowed the practice to continue as the season progressed, but said on several occasions it was something that would be addressed after the completion of the 2014 season.
Teams haven’t said how much is gained from such an adjustment. There has, however, been talk about possible problems the move creates for other drivers.
Flat tires following contact sidelined at least two Chase contenders late in the year, and both were asked if the flared side skirts were at least partly to blame.
“I would assume it was something like that,” Team Penske driver Joey Logano said of contact at Texas between his Ford and that of Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose. “Obviously, the consequences of that (flaring) is that is you touch each other … you can get a flat tire, but that’s part of it. We all know it. We can see it.
“We know if we touch each other we’ll have an issue because of everyone being so aggressive in that department. But that’s the name of the game right now.”
In the same race, contact between Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, and Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon resulted in a flat tire on the No. 24 Chevrolet. It also set the stage for post-race fireworks involving Gordon, Keselowski and various crewmen.
Gordon said whether his flat tire was caused by Keselowski’s flared side skirt or something else was “certainly debatable.”
“You don’t know. The … tailpipes stick out, too,” Gordon said, “and as hard as the impact was, it’s possible that the tailpipes may have done it.”
Still, he said, such body alterations aren’t helping the situation in such instances.
“It is definitely getting a little bit out of control,” he said.