TEST TO DETERMINE 2014 RULES PACKAGE

By Ron Lemasters Jr.

CONCORD, N.C. – As 30 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race cars in various stages of paint and primer circulated the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday, NASCAR officials were filling pads with notes and checking off boxes as each of the stages was completed.

The results of the day-long test will be used to formulate the 2014 series rules packages, so it’s a pretty important deal.

“We did an initial test here in October,” said Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR’s vice-president of innovation and racing development, during a break in the test. “We got some information. We have been very fortunate that we’ve actually had huge participation. We have 30 cars, and we’re trying to exercise all this in a real-world environment.”

“This,” the test, is about spicing up the competition on 1.5-mile ovals…not that there’s anything wrong with the competition per se. It can be better, however, and that’s the aim of the exercise.

“What we’re attempting to do here is to get close competition and more passing, closer competition, the cars running closer in the pack, passing more with an eye for the fans,” Stefanyshyn said. “That’s what we’re doing.

“We’re using various metrics to look at that, like the first-to-fifth time differentials, the differentials between the 10 fastest laps, those types of things. There are many more, but that’s an example.”

The data is being collected in real-time, or as close as possible, and Stefanyshyn said that all data should be in by late tonight. “We won’t have it all instantaneously, but we’ll have the picture painted by late tonight or early in the morning.”

The cars were set up in each of four configurations, and simulated races took place according to NASCAR’s schedule. The first segment of the day was the tightest, according to NASCAR VP of competition and racing development Robin Pemberton.

“It’s the most balance to the rear,” he said. “The rear is stuck more than the front. In traffic, generally, that’s something you have to work on. So we’re taking the tightest package and there’s a logical progression in another direction.”

The bigger field of cars played into that right off the bat, Pemberton said. 

“It’s very seldom you ever run by yourself, unless you have a healthy lead,” he said. “With aerodynamics playing such a key role, it’s important we run as many cars as we can. Some of the input from this morning is when they were in-line with another car. They didn’t like it, but if you moved up or down, it took a significantly different feel. 

“That in itself at least gives you some direction to work in.”

Pemberton said the rules package for 2014 “are ASAP,” and that he expected them to be set by the beginning of next week. The teams will be able to test at tracks that run Sprint Cup races as they did in 2013.