iNSIDE SCOOP: Not Just Hot Air

NASCAR teams stuck around this week at Charlotte to do a little due diligence before going about the business of taking on Talladega.

Testing new aero bits for 2014 was the reason, and if you’re going to test air, you might as well do it on a track you know well, right?

Glossing over the fact that the next race on the schedule is all about the air, the aero package being tested was for 1.5-mile tracks follow on, and since they comprise 12 of the 36 races and five of the 10 Chase races, it’s a pretty big deal.

NASCAR vice president of Innovation Gene Stefanyshyn said the configurations came from computer simulation and wind tunnel testing, and the ideas needed to be tested on the track. Stefanyshyn's role at NASCAR's Research & Development Center is on the development of the race cars.

And I didn’t even know NASCAR had a VP of Innovation.

Making the cars better aero-wise is the Holy Grail, the Rosetta Stone and the Golden Fleece of NASCAR’s current effort to make the racing better than it already is.

Aero push is a pain that has plagued NASCAR since the early days of the common template. Simply put, the lead car pushes so much air that the trail car or one side-by-side can’t chop through it enough to get past. That leads to a lot of single-file racing, and that’s bad for business.

The Gen-6 car has helped in some ways, supplying necessary grip, but the aero push demon is still unslain.

A channeled splitter is one thing they tested, to more efficiently push the air caked on the front of the car to the side. They’re also testing stepped spoilers and such. 

If they can solve this thing, and finally slay the aero push dragon, it will be good for the sport, good for fans and great for drivers. They can actually pass without having to thumb through the fluid dynamics checklist first.

One of the tested items might or might not have been a wicker across the top of the roof line. What is a wicker? It’s a slender piece of metal that dirties up the air even more and allows pressure changes behind the cars. 

Indy cars used a similar thing, called the Handford Device, to great success on superspeedways. Of course, Indy cars can actually run upside down, provided sufficient speed, because they produce so much downforce via venturis on the side of the cars.

Without getting all Bernouli on you, it’s a function of fluid dynamics and physics. Anything the drive the stake into the heart of aero push is a good thing.