If It Was Easy Anybody Could Do It   March 5, 2008 T. Jay Maddox - SCR   These are truths about the Cup car.   First of all, let’s be clear. It is no longer the Car of Tomorrow or even the COT. It’s not even the Car of Today. It is the Cup car or the Sprint Cup car. So from now on let’s not call it the Car of Tomorrow, and let’s refer to it as the Cup car.   The second truth about the Cup car is it doesn’t drive very well. It looks like a tank and drives like one too. Darrell Waltrip says it performs more like a NASCAR truck than any of the prior versions of the cars. Teams are spending a great deal of time trying to figure out the set-ups, with varying degrees of success. Listening to radio chatter and race interviews with the drivers, one can draw the conclusion that nobody is ever really satisfied with the handling of their car. It doesn’t take much to be completely off, which was evidenced by several teams at the running of this past weekend’s UAW-Dodge 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.   Most notable was two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who spent most of the weekend at the back of the pack. Even Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief, who has established himself as one of the best in NASCAR, was unable to put the 48 anywhere near the top of the speed charts at any time during the weekend.

Most concerning about the car may be the splitter. The splitter, located on the front of the car, is mandated to ride a certain height above the ground by NASCAR. As the car travels at great speed, the downforce of the car pushes the nose of the car down closer to the surface of the track, and at times will actually make contact with the track, particularly in banked turns. In some instances, the splitter may actually make so much contact with the track that the front wheels of the car are lifted off the ground. At speeds of more than 180 mph in the middle of the turn, it doesn’t take an engineer to figure out the car is going to be a literal handful.   Another truth about the Cup car is it has put driver talent back to the forefront. It’s not to say that talented teams with superior technology are no longer important. It is to say that the driver must accept that the car will be on edge and subject to radical change without much notice, and he must be willing to cautiously get up on the wheel and drive. This has been reflected in the resurgence of wily old veterans who have driven everything and know how to handle an ill-tempered beast. This resulted in Ken Schrader’s solid finish at Las Vegas and Mike Skinner’s ability to move from the truck series to the Cup car without much track time. Skinner not only raced his way into the race, but qualified fifth.

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Even Kyle Busch, arguably NASCAR’s hottest driver, was not immune to changes in the car. Busch has shown fantastic ability to maneuver the car all over the track this year. Darrell Waltrip quipped that Busch is the only driver who can go three wide all by himself. While he ran upfront for the early part of the Las Vegas race, and was at times, the fastest car on the track, he mustered only an 11the place finish. This is well below his lofty achievements this year. Evidently he and his team were unable to keep up with the changes and the result was a poor finish by his standards.   The car is hard to drive, but if it was easy anybody could do it.   Questions, Comments: Email Jay    The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR

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2006 StockCar Review.

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