Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards bounces off the fence during the Aaron's 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in April at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“I couldn’t sit here and tell you today that the wing is there forever on the Cup side,” Helton said. “I couldn’t tell you that the [front] splitter as we know it on the Cup car will exist forever. I can tell you we are going to learn a lot with the Nationwide car that has a different configuration to it aerodynamically and we’ll learn from that and we’ll see what happens.”

Helton said since the first introduction of the Cup car in 2007 there have been at least 25 subtle changes in the rules. The splitter can be moved asymmetrically, weight can be repositioned differently in the car, and there are spring changes and a smaller flywheel in the motors. Those changes have allowed drivers to adapt to the new car.

“Car owners are very quick to tell us that they don’t want any major changes right now that will cost them a lot of money in engineering or redevelopment,” Helton said. “We continue to look at the subtle elements that we can continue to work with crew chiefs and drivers to give them adjustability. The manufacturers themselves have changes coming in the styling of the nose of the car that we will have to address, which is nothing new.”

One thing NASCAR won’t consider is changes that just make it easier to drive.

“Race cars aren’t supposed to be easy to drive, no more than riding a bull for eight seconds or throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass or hitting 15 home runs,” Helton said. “Those things aren’t easy. If they were easy, they wouldn’t be valuable to fans. It wouldn’t be hero material.”

SceneDaily.com • What others are saying about Jimmie Johnsons fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup title