NASCARs fuel saving situation

        We saw it happen at the Daytona 500 and now NASCAR wants to do something about it. So far throughout the week there have been several drivers who have voiced their displeasure with the fuel saving methods on Monday. While we saw an interesting race, there were times when we saw that the drivers were going slower than usual while all still in a pack. There were times that the big pack was around 4 seconds off pace, traveling around the hi banked speedway at 175 mph. Drivers were getting told as early as lap 1 to save fuel and from drivers to industry members and team members, a lot of people didn’t like it.

     NASCAR has responded. On Tuesday morning Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition for NASCAR, spoke on the matter. Sawyer wants drivers to push it to the limit from start to finish. He acknowledged that the fuel saving strategy was on a trend of getting more aggressive, and said that NASCAR will take “a deeper dive into this particular situation and the strategy that goes into it”.

     As we have seen over the years, the saving fuel strategy is to spend less time on pit road rather under green or under caution. This method has become more key as sometimes it can be challenging to pass on the super speedways. Cars can then go side by side at speeds that are seconds slower than their top speeds. They manage to do this by running 75% throttle instead of wide open. Another issue is the tire wear that makes it possible for the gas and go and maybe two tires and fuel.

     I’m not saying that I have much of a problem but several drivers, and NASCAR themselves don’t like the idea. I don’t think changing stage lengths or fuel cells would really work, and saving fuel has always been a strategy so I don’t think they would start penalizing anyone for doing just that. Also i will say the racing is not bad and the package seems to improve by every super speedway race. So what can they do ?

     What I believe is the answer is taking away the cautions of stage racing. That could change up strategy if there is no guaranteed caution, but still a chance to get stage points. While that doesn’t stop the fuel saving methods, it could lead to split strategies. If the race goes green for a long time you could almost see a split in drivers going for stage points, and drivers going on a different strategy for track position. With the manufacturer agreements that we see at the super speedways now, I think there is a chance to see them run their own races but more at full throttle, because different strategies can create a lot of time loss if someone is coasting. 

     I think eliminating the stage caution could be fair because the stage caution is like a reset. All you have to do is make it to stage break and then you can pit. Imagine this year’s Daytona 500 with no stage break cautions. Strategy would have been a chest match. The drivers at the back of the pack would likely have a different strategy than the drivers at the front coming to stage end if there is no yellow, in an attempt to gain track position when pit stops do cycle through.

    Another thing to compliment this would be a tire that wears out more, that can require having to take 2-4 tires instead of a no tire stop. This puts more of a focus on who can change tires the fastest, which then you might as well run it wide open more.

   I’m not sure what the future holds or what NASCAR will do, but one can only wait and see. Atlanta is this weekend so more super speedway racing is upon us.