NASCAR Teams continue to find ways to cheat (Update)
All,
The scene we had on the back straightaway last week after the Chicago event is unacceptable. The crazy radio communications, swerving, wheel hopping, and shifting to reverse are unacceptable. This and any other questionable behavior becomes the story. If we aren’t talking about the racing after the event the sport suffers. The LIS specifications have been modified, in part, so that teams don’t need to resort to this behavior on the cool down lap. We all know it is possible to manage to the numbers without all of this. We need to make this Championship about racing not about the LIS, swerving, penalties, lug nuts, tape trips, etc. We ask for your cooperation, if you force our hand we will act accordingly.
Richard M. Buck
Managing Director, Sprint Cup Series – NASCAR
09/20/16 Why are NASCAR cars swerving after the races are over? Don't stop watching NASCAR's drivers after the checkered flag falls – there are some strange goings on occurring after that. On Sunday following the Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, multiple drivers – not only the winner – made serpentine moves on the backstretch on the cool down lap that would have been more natural through the esses of a road course – not a straightaway on a 1.5-mile oval.
On Sunday at Chicagoland, crew chief Cole Pearn reminded Martin Truex Jr. repeatedly before his burnouts: "Remember to swerve." So what did that mean exactly? The bottom line is that competitors are spinning and swerving to make sure the rear toe returns to legal parameters before the cars are measure on the laser inspection station post-race. NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Office Steve O'Donnell finally addressed the issue on Monday. When O'Donnell was a guest on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said NASCAR is looking into the practice.
"That's why we put the rules in place that we did prior to the Chase," O'Donnell said. "We don't want to have to react to this. We want to see the best racing possible. We want the cars to come in and race straight up. Unfortunately, it's part of racing, too, is to push the limits. So we have to find that balance. What we want to be talking about is the racing on the track – not post-race, not what occurs on the cool down laps. We've got a job to do to with the team owners to talk about exactly the questions I'm being asked today – which is very fair – but that's where we're headed."
On Sept. 7, NASCAR made a change to the rules making welded track bar mounts mandatory – rather than a moveable mount that had the potential to increase side force on the car by promoting right rear yaw. Some team managers contend the rule did not go far enough to discourage the practice. Motorsport