Time to cycle through the transmission for this week’s edition of Four Gears.
This week, our staff takes a look at some of the hot topics in the world of NASCAR. We ponder if it’s time for NASCAR to crack down on cars being destroyed during burnouts, what effect the recent “polishing” of Bristol will have, whether or not the Joe Gibbs Racing contingent found an aerodynamic advantage running the windshield wipers at Watkins Glen and what’s been the biggest surprise – be it good or bad – in the world of auto racing this year.
FIRST GEAR: This past Tuesday on The Morning Drive, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell hinted that NASCAR may come down on drivers who damage their cars during burnouts in the wake of Denny Hamlin’s burnout at Watkins Glen this past Sunday. What are your thoughts?
I’ll keep mine short. While I see NASCAR’s point in terms of shutting down the “black helicopter pilots,” what’s the point of doing this since an illegal car keeps the win in this sport? — Tucker White
I hate sounding like a hypocrite because I think those types of burnouts are awesome. I love how wild and nuts they can be. But I’m the guy who loathes it, absolutely hates it, when drivers who are pissed off at each other take to ramming each other instead of getting out and settling things face-to-face because that necessitates unneeded work from the guys back at the shop and negates all of their hard efforts.
By that logic, body-shredding, engine-grenading celebrations also negates my team’s hard efforts at putting together a precision race car and is a bit excessive. Therefore, they should keep it simple when celebrating. Heck, I miss the days drivers did a victory lap with that checkered flag. That being said, NASCAR should come down on those who decide to destroy their cars following a victory. — Joseph Shelton
New rules like that wouldn’t really change much. It’s strange to me how fans and some media members jump on victory celebrations for being suspicious but don’t comment/report on most of the cars swerving around wildly on the cool-down lap most races this season or crew chiefs telling drivers to “go through the checklist” after races over the radio. The easiest way to deter cheating is to make the possible penalties for it more meaningful. — Michael Finley
SECOND GEAR: Bristol Motor Speedway announced they are “polishing” the bottom groove of the track surface in preparation for next week’s festivities. Based on what you’ve heard, what do you expect to see?
From what I’ve heard from Bristol, this is meant to promote two-wide racing. Though I really think this is meant to make the bottom the preferred groove again.
I’ll hold off any judgment of this until after the checkered flag flies. I thought the low downforce package would force these drivers to run the bottom back in April which they were for most of the weekend but were back to the wall groove on race day.
I do have the stats to show that the racing at Thunder Valley now statistically is virtually on par with where it was back in the “good ole days.” I’ll argue that the racing is better now because you can actually pass another car at Bristol and not have to wait for the car in front to either get loose or make them get loose.
It’s my home track at the end of the day. So I’ll always love Bristol no matter what groove is run. — Tucker White
Pre-2007 Bristol, before the overhaul, was perfect Bristol. Since the overhaul, racing hasn’t been as exciting as it once was. Therefore, any talk of a Bristol overhaul or “polish” is something I take with a grain of salt and just a dash of dread. I fear it would only wreck the product even more. — Joseph Shelton
I’ve given up on predicting what’s going to happen at the fall Bristol race. Every season it looks like it may be an exciting race, it becomes a bore fest. Every season it looks like it’s going to be a snoozer, it’s a highlight-a-minute thrill-show. All that is a sure thing is that until Speedway Motorsports, Inc. makes the low groove the preferred/only racing line and NASCAR lessens aero dependence of the cars, it’s not going to be the old “bump n’ run” Bristol older fans long for. — Michael Finley
THIRD GEAR: All four of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s and Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing were running optional windshield wipers on a clear sunny day Sunday that had no chance of rain forecasted while the rest of the field didn’t. Do you believe the Gibbs program found that running the wipers provided an aerodynamic advantage or do you believe it was done to mess with the competition?
I’m not an engineer and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I do listen to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Listening to Mike Bagley, windshield wipers – if it’s meant to act as a dorsal fin to stabilize the car – won’t do much at a track like Watkins Glen where speed is more in play than handling. I have even more doubts that it had any aerodynamic advantage considering the wipers were being moved by the air during the race.
So I think it was done solely to mess with the competition. I’m willing to bet that come next season, everyone else will show up with their wipers left on and the JGR cars will leave them off. — Tucker White
I LOL’d at the folks on Twitter who honestly believed this was some sort of game/advantage the JGR Toyotas were playing with the rest of the field. I don’t know why they went with windshield wipers, honestly, but I doubt it was to mess with the rest of the field. That’s a tinfoil hat claim if there ever was one. — Joseph Shelton
Gibbs seems to be like the Joker in the Dark Knight this season. They have been just two or three steps ahead of everybody so far this season, so I’d be shocked if they didn’t find something that worked in those wipers. — Michael Finley
FOURTH GEAR: With most of the motorsports world in a “summer break” at the moment, what has been the biggest surprise – be it good or bad – in the world of auto racing this year?
For me, the biggest surprise this year has been just how far off Ferrari has been in Formula 1 this year. In the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne, Sebastian Vettel got the jump on Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg off the start and had the race in check before a bad pit stop just past halfway cost him the victory.
Despite that, I came away thinking “We got a title fight this year.” I thought Ferrari was ready to take the fight to Mercedes.
However, Ferrari has posed virtually no threat to Mercedes since. Vettel blew an engine on the warm up lap the very next race at Bahrain and didn’t even start, and hasn’t had a podium finish in four of the last five races. Kimi Raikkonen hasn’t had much more success either sitting just two points ahead at the summer break.
They were even leap-frogged by Red Bull Racing – despite all their off-track issues with Renault last season – who managed to put Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium with a win in Barcelona, and that was largely due to the two Mercedes drivers taking each other out on the first lap in Barcelona.
Maybe the summer break will give Ferrari the opportunity to find something to put up a last ditch effort, but 2016 is a lost cause for the boys of Maranello. — Tucker White
In the world of NASCAR, Tony Stewart’s comeback run. So many people had written Stewart off as a has-been who had zero chance at success in the Sprint Cup Series ever again, but here he is riding a hot streak that includes a strong win at Sonoma in June. He’s not going to be a one-hit wonder in the Chase; he may very well be a threat.
Altogether? Alex Rossi’s Indy 500 win. It was a strategy move that landed him in Victory Lane, but this is the Indy 500 we’re talking about. America’s most prestigious auto racing event. Yet somehow a rookie who wasn’t even doing that well managed to pull off the biggest upset since Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500. It was a thrilling account of how in motorsports, anything can happen. — Joseph Shelton
How Stewart-Haas Racing kept the biggest manufacturer switch since Gibbs went to Toyota a secret for months in an industry full of moles, I’ll never know. What a grab by Ford and what a punch in the gut for Chevrolet and Hendrick. — Michael Finley
Please join us again next week and become a part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comment section below.
