NASCAR’s restriction on Toyota smells of foul play

NASCAR's new Nationwide Series rule change is as follows: "At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR."

It all sounds a bit like technical gobbledygook for engine geeks. Basically, a "tapered spacer" is a different word for "restrictor plate." These "tapered spacers" were installed to slow down the Nationwide cars so they wouldn't be faster than NASCAR's premier series, the Sprint Cup, when the latter started driving made the "Car of Tomorrow" the "Car of Today." So engines with a cylinder bore spacing of more than 4.470" competes with a restrictor plate with holes smaller than the rest of the engines by 0.025", which restricts airflow into the engines. What does cylinder bore spacing have to do with horsepower (such that a smaller bore spacing would require a more restrictive plate to equalize any advantage gained)? Well, almost nothing. So why regulate it? Because NASCAR needed a way to single out Toyota for more restrictive restrictor plates to bring their horsepower down to where the other manufacturers are without saying the word "Toyota" in their rule.

What this means is, Toyota made a better engine and did it within the rules. Finding no fault with Toyota's engine, NASCAR just made up new rules to placate the complainers.

But NASCAR's numbers are on shaky ground here. Let's look at the numbers:

Of Toyota's 14 Nationwide Series wins this season, nine of them came in the number 20 car, with different drivers. That engine came in FIFTH in the engine horsepower test behind two Fords and a Toyota that hasn't won anything this season. If horsepower were the reason for the wins, wouldn't the #20 car have scored higher and the #99 car scored worse? And why weren't the Fords included in the today's "change"?

Of the 14 Toyota wins in the Nationwide Series this year, 13 were in Joe Gibbs Racing cars and 1 was in a Braun Racing car driven by a Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Kyle Busch. Kyle could probably win a short track race in my son's Cozy Coupe, so don't start thinking that Toyota's advantage helped little Braun Racing win in NASCAR's second-tier series. Back to the numbers, particularly the number of wins for Michael Waltrip and Germain's Toyotas this year: 0 So why were ALL of the Toyota teams affected?

This year, with 2/3 of the races won by Toyotas, the Camry was on pace to win 24 races by the end of the season, should the pace of winning hold up (which it most likely will not now). Last year Chevrolets won 22 races. What was done to restrict Chevrolet engines after the 2007 season (that wasn't done to everyone's engines)? Carsandracingstuff.com

[Editor's Note: This sort of prejudice against its company does not sit well with the top brass of Toyota in Japan. Don't think they would just get up and leave NASCAR? Think again. They did just that in CART over the engine plenum controversy.]