Yates talks about horsepower reduction
Yates: So where we are today is reducing RPM, talking about taking 500 RPM away. Effectively, that reduces speed on the racetrack and goes along with making the parts last longer. Talking about roller cams. The Cup series is the only series that has a flat tappet cam. It is a really hard application and it is probably the only series in the world that has a flat tappet cam. It gets it more like Nationwide and Truck so the parts could be passed down and they would last longer. If we need to reduce power more, we'd do it through a reduced throttle body size, reducing the air flow through the throttle body. Those are the mechanisms that will be utilized to reduce power.
They are [also] looking at [limiting RPM] through gear ratios. We crossed that bridge years ago when we decided to limit the RPMs and they did it with the final drive ratio. It was a really good way to do it. If the engine will achieve more RPM because it is making more power or the driver gets off of the corner better and he achieves more RPM, then so be it. I think the final drive ratio is a good, easy-to-police way to get there. That is the adjustment they'll make. They do the same thing today in Nationwide and Trucks based on the RPM range they want to run. That has been a good, effective way to run.
NASCAR has had more engagement with the engine building community than they ever have before. We've had five meetings now and Gene Stefanyshyn has done a great job leading those meetings. At first, it was a little bit of going through a process to get everyone to talk and open up. Our lives are about competition so those meetings, at first, were a bit of "I can outdo you on this." Everybody has now settled in to try and achieve Brian France and NASCAR's two initiatives of trying to improve racing through a reduction of horsepower and to try and figure out how to save some cost for the teams." Frontstretch