NASCAR released a set of new rules for cars for 2015 this week that featured about 60 changes to almost all parts of the cars including the engine, aerodynamics and chassis.
The most significant changes for Sprint Cup cars are a reduction in horsepower, a shorter rear spoiler (from eight inches in height to six), lower rear-end gear ratios, a track or Panhard bar that can be adjusted by the driver and a reduction in minimum weight of cars without the driver aboard from 3,300 pounds to 3,250.
Group knock-out style qualifying will continue for all three series, including the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, and it will be used for the Daytona 500, unlike this year.
Private testing by race teams had been banned again, but teams will have the opportunity to test at sessions hosted by either NASCAR or Goodyear. And Goodyear will begin using rain tires at road courses for Sprint Cup cars if needed.
Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates Engines, said the horsepower reduction represents a major change. He said engines will lose about 125 horsepower, putting them in the 700 to 750 horsepower range, and revolutions per minute will drop from 9,500 maximum today to around 9,000. A tapered spacer on the air/fuel intake will be used to cut horsepower, with the RPMs being limited by rear-gear-ratio restrictions.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work ahead,” Yates said. “The engine configuration as we know it is going to change considerably and what that means is a different camshaft.”
All of the changes, he said, “are going to have to be developed and tested over the winter to have a package that’s ready to go race next March in Atlanta.”
The engines for races on the restrictor-plate tracks at Daytona and Talladega, already have far less horsepower than those used at other tracks and aren’t affected by the new rules.
Yates said the changes, while significant, won’t result in whole engines becoming obsolete.
“At the end of the day I think we as a sport have made a good decision and a good cost-effective decision going forward for the engine shops and the teams and the sport,” he said.
Larson on the rise
After finishing third at Chicagoland Speedway in the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and second the next week at New Hampshire, rookie Kyle Larson has many in the sport wondering “what if?”
What if he hadn’t wrecked at Michigan International Speedway with four races left in the regular season? Before that he was 10th in points and in line to get one of the 16 Chase berths. Instead he missed the cut for the playoffs. Had he made it, he’d more than likely be among the drivers advancing to the second Chase round after Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
“It’s a little bit disappointing seeing how well we’ve been running and not being in the Chase,” Larson said.
Larson pointed out that Jamie McMurray, his teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, also is running well of late but also is not part of the Chase. “I know other teams that are in the Chase notice that, and I’m sure they’re worried about us for next season already,” Larson said, adding that he and McMurray don’t have to worry about points now and can focus on collecting trophies.
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