In less than one month, NASCAR kicks off the 2024 season with the annual Busch Light Clash which will be held again this year in Los Angeles at the Memorial Coliseum.
As with each season, NASCAR tweaks the rules packages; this time for the short tracks and road courses. The tweaks are designed to make for more competitive racing in the Cup Series.
The new rules package will go into effect beginning March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The changes are the result of a two day test last month at Phoenix Raceway where drivers tested several different configurations.
NASCAR has again made adjustments to the rear diffuser; simplifying it with fewer vertical strakes. As a result of the change, the drivers will loose downforce up front. To compensate for the loss in downforce, NASCAR has raised the rear spoiler from two to three inches across the rear deck.
Thanking the drivers who participated in the test, NASCAR vice president of vehicle performance Dr. Eric Jacuzzi said, “one of the things going into the Phoenix test, we said, ‘let’s do a simplified diffuser’. “et’s see what it does when we put it in traffic and what we actually found was it appeared to be an improvement. Then another interesting effect was that id did not lose near downforce when it yawed, which is an issue we fight with the current car. So we felt that the car, the drivers would be able to slide around more on the short tracks and really have to be less careful about putting power down.”
He added, “we felt that would be a benefit, and that was the big takeaway from the driver feedback. At the test, they felt they could really tell that it was more forgiving. They felt they could slide the car, not crazy but certainly much more than they regularly could without having a performance penalty.”
More testing is scheduled prior to implementation of the new package with a wind tunnel test on February 13 and a second test at Phoenix on February 20. The wind tunnel test is to assure parity among all three manufacturers.
Teams are expected to receive the new parts early next month prior to the March 10 race at Phoenix; where the package will go into effect.
The new configuration will not be used for The Clash, Bristol Motor Speedway, or Dover Motor Speedway; but could be re-evaluated after Phoenix, Richmond, and Martinsville Speedway.
Jacuzzi also noted that the new simplified diffuser would save teams money.
While testing last month in Phoenix, NASCAR also worked with Goodyear for the right tire combinations of wear and performance.
Speaking on the tire testing Dr. Jacuzzi said, “Goodyear, I thought, did a really good job at the tests. We had asked them — and the drivers did as well — to be extremely aggressive in bringing compounds and options, and they did do that. I think the one key thing that we’ve seen at Phoenix and at other locations is increasing the tread gauge, so actually making the tread of the tire a little thicker. … But adding that thickness, it seems to be every time we’ve done it has been very favorable from the driver standpoint, and Goodyear believes that added thickness will help contribute to tire fall-off.”
He concluded, “so that’s really a good learning out of there. I think we really proved out that we could continue to work on making the compounds we have softer, to where they have more grip initially, but then fall off more significantly. So I think that’s a big positive from the Goodyear side that came out of the test.”
Dr. Jacuzzi noted that there currently will be no changes to the gearbox but added, “there’s work ongoing on what can be done there and what will be beneficial to the racing.”