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Once again the sanctioning body has changed their own rules, only days before an event.
After witnessing what the speeds and closing rates in the draft were last Saturday night at the Budweiser Shootout, also held at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR has decided to mandate a restrictor plate that is 1/64th of an inch smaller, now making the holes in the plate only 57/64ths of an inch wide.
A restrictor plate is a plate that is put between the engine and the carburetor of a race car, in order to limit the air the engine can take in and turn into valuable speed.
When NASCAR saw speeds hitting 207 mph in Saturday’s Shootout, they immediately began thinking that a change may need to be made, in the name of safety. Some of the drivers agree.
“There comes a point enough’s enough,” driver Jeff Burtonsaid. “We’re still going to go exceptionally fast. But we don’t need to go that fast. We know what happens when we go that fast, and it’s not good. The quality of races is not going to be impeded by the restrictor plate.”
In comparison, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jeff Gordon, the two men who locked in their starting positions last Sunday in solo-run front row qualifying, set speeds of 186.089 and 185.966 mph, respectively. It is the third time that Hendrick has swept the front row for the 500.
The first change that NASCAR made this week involved reducing the size of the radiator inlets, allowing less air to get to the radiator and making the car run warmer when tucked behind another car in the draft. NASCAR thought that this move would force drivers to move around more in order to cool their engines and avoid full-field freight trains, as is the norm in most restrictor plate races.
“Kevin Harvick pushed me 25 laps the other night and did not have a problem with heat,” Burton said. “We knew we could do that. But I don’t think they knew we could do that. Now they know.”
They do indeed know, and now they have responded. The fans will become judge, jury, and executioner this weekend when they decided if these moves provided the most exciting racing possible, or ruined a possibly great show.
The 53rd annual Daytona 500 will be run on Sunday, February 20th, 2011. Coverage begins at 11am on FOX.
Related articles
- NASCAR makes changes to reduce speeds at Daytona (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Changes Ordered to Try to Lower Speeds(nytimes.com)
- Earnhardt Jr., Gordon secure Daytona 500 starting row (canada.com)
- NASCAR Budweiser Shootout: 10 Lessons We Learned Over the Weekend in Daytona(bleacherreport.com)
- Notebook: 10 drivers hit 200 mph at Daytona(sportingnews.com)
