Written by:
Jimmy Spencer
When Ryan Newman went airborne, flipping and ultimately landing on his roof Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, it didn’t take long for everyone to begin advocating a complete overhaul of the way we race at the Alabama facility.
Rightfully so, drivers vehemently voiced their intense displeasure with the massive wrecks and tendency of the cars to lift up at Talladega. Then the media piled on in the insistence that NASCAR do something before we go back to Daytona in February.
I’m usually the first one to jump on NASCAR’s case when I think they’re in the wrong but I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes in this situation because it seems they can’t do anything right when it comes to restrictor-plate racing. I love this form of competition and would hate to see Talladega eliminated from the schedule as some critics are calling for.
I’ve also heard some people suggest bulldozing the track and dropping the banking down to a much flatter degree. That is the worst thing we could do to that track because instead of Auto Club Speedway producing the most boring product, Talladega would soon surpass it.
In my opinion, the rear wing on these new cars is the culprit in them taking off like airplanes. Darrell Waltrip said it best when he said, “The wing isn’t NASCAR.” NASCAR should consider eliminating the wing and putting on a normal spoiler to improve the racing at all tracks - not just the plate races.
I’m not an engineer and I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do have common sense and street smarts, and I’m fairly certain that wing has something to do with the rear lift of this car. Look at Joey Logano’s car at Dover – cars shouldn’t get airborne at Dover.
I think the wing is at the root of many of the new car’s problems. NASCAR needs to address it and make a diligent effort to examine ways to remedy the situation, such as having a group of teams test out different ideas. Let crews experiment with the wing versus a regular spoiler and make adjustments, show us the data and if it doesn’t work, we’ll shut up, move on and try to figure something else out. But I think a testing procedure of this nature would produce drastic changes and NASCAR hasn’t done that yet.
I consider the restrictor-plate races to be four of the most exciting races of the year. Sure, Sunday’s race at Talladega wasn’t up to its usual standards in the early part of the race and there was some single-file racing because drivers were conscious not to bump draft each other in the corners in order to keep the cars on the ground. But the race still beats the hell out of a Major League Baseball game that moves at the pace of molasses on a cold day. Nothing comes close to the adrenaline-packed moments of three and four-wide racing at Talladega in excess of 190 miles-per-hour.
Unfortunately, with this exhilaration often come the almost inevitable multi-car accidents. But wrecking is just part of restrictor-plate racing and whether or not we want to admit it, these crashes generate national attention for the sport. No, it’s not good publicity when a driver’s life is at risk barrel-rolling down the straightaway or flipping through the air. But NASCAR goes out of their way to make sure the fans and drivers are as safe as possible and there is only so much they can do at Talladega.
We can’t lower the banking at Talladega. We can’t take it off the schedule. But we can and need to take the rear wing off.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it as an analyst on NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
