Brad Keselowski is in the air following contact with Carl Edwards in the closing laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

That leaves NASCAR the thorny decision of how to prevent this type of result while not throwing a damper on the new era of “have at it, boys.” If there’s a stiff penalty for Edwards to discourage such action, the sanctioning body looks wishy-washy. If it doesn’t heavily penalize him, it calls into question whether they’re running a sport and encourages more of the same dangerous circumstances.

It might be tempting to believe that once the blade spoiler replaces the rear wing, the cars will stay on the ground when spun by contact at high speeds and this problem will pass. But it may be a problem more concerned with a rammed car hitting warp speed rather than the car’s configuration.
—
Quote of the week: “He wrecked a lot of people last year and I’m sure a lot of people want to pay him back.”

– Juan Pablo Montoya commenting on Brad Keselowski.
—
The Blade Is Back: Looking ahead, what type of COT will teams be driving later this month at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, when a blade spoiler will be tested in place of the rear wing?

The blade spoiler, to be the same for all cars, will be 4 inches high for the intermediate tracks and 4.5 inches tall at Talladega and Daytona. To be run at a standard 70-degree angle, the spoiler will be mounted slightly offset to the right side, which will put more downforce on the rear during cornering. (And perhaps create more opportunities for side drafting.)

The rear deck fin first seen at Daytona in February, will be retained to provide more sideforce in the absence of the endplates. The rear deck fin can be taller or shorter according to a team’s preference for tuning the sideforce.

Sideforce, which is needed to compensate for the loss of the endplates on the rear wings, will also be added by extending the rear quarter panels 4 inches lower just behind the rear tires and then gradually tapering them up to the current height at the rear bumper.

See ya! …At the races.

Jonathan Ingram has been writing full-time about the world’s major motor racing series and events since 1983 for newspapers, magazines and web sites.


John can be reached at jingram@racintoday.com