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Additional downforce will be taken away from Sprint Cup cars in 2017
KANSAS CITY, Kansas — NASCAR is cutting downforce from Sprint Cup cars once again.
Officials said Friday that cars will have smaller spoilers and splitters in 2017, among other changes. The rules, which will be official after the conclusion of the 2016 season, have been sent to Cup teams so they can start working ahead for next season.
Per NASCAR.com, cars in 2017 will have seen nearly a 50 percent reduction in downforce from the original 2015 rules. Aerodynamic downforce will be 1,500 pounds in 2017. It was 2,700 pounds at the start of each season and 2,000 in 2016.
“There probably could be a bit more” downforce taken away, NASCAR vice president Gene Stefanyshyn told reporters Friday. But Stefanyshyn also added it was a “chicken and egg” scenario with teams attempting to engineer more downforce into their cars after rules changes.
Downforce, of course, helps cars go faster but can also hinder racing. When cars are too reliant on aerodynamic downforce, turbulent air (like when a car is following another car) can slow the trailing car so much that it’s impossibly hard to pass.
With less downforce, cars are forced to slow more in the corners.
“We are all wanting slower center of corner speeds,” Jimmie Johnson said. “We all feel that will put on a better race. The slower the center of corner speed is the more off throttle time we create, the more opportunities there are to pass, the more opportunities there are to make mistakes, the more opportunities you have to work on the handling of your race car.”
Johnson said he’d be at Kansas on Monday to test the 2017 rules, which are similar to the rules NASCAR implemented for races at Kentucky and Michigan over the summer. Spoilers next year will be 2.375 inches tall while front splitters will have the same three-inch reduction they had at both tracks. Spoilers are currently 3.5 inches tall and will be widened to 61 inches in 2017.
Teams will also see a reduction in their tire allotments in at some tracks 2017, though it may not impact tire strategy too much. NASCAR vice president Scott Miller said the sanctioning body looked at the number of unused tires after races at certain tracks and wanted to cut down on the amount of tires that aren’t utilized.
Cup teams lease sets from Goodyear for race weekends and can use as many sets of tires as they choose to pay for within the allotment.
Teams will also start the race on the tires they qualified on. With NASCAR’s three-round qualifying format, that means tires for the drivers at the front of the field will typically be a lap or two older than the tires on the cars of drivers who didn’t make it out of the first round of qualifying.
“That has been done in the past and that’s just something we’ve worked with the teams on and thought it was a good idea and create some storylines,” Miller said.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
