Here We Go, It's Time For The Two Car Tango...

It is Thursday night at Talladega and every driver seems to be picking out who will be on their 2 way radio dial come race time.

After watching the 2 car racing at Daytona, much of NASCAR nation remains split over the 2 car drafting technique. Most of those who don’t like it now did not like it before, and likely never will. Those who do like it say it takes more driver ability and less guessing on which line will move and when.

From NASCAR’s standpoint, there doesn’t seem to be much that they can do to change it. Not only does the current restrictor plate range help keep the cars weak enough to make tandem racing a necessity, the aero footprint of the current cars make the hookup more feasible. Even the back bumper and front bumper line up perfectly, making remaining in the 2 car draft much easier.

Of course there are those who would love to see NASCAR take the restrictor plates away and let the horses run. These people feel that enough changes have been made in driver safety that racing in excess of 200 miles an hour is not as deadly as 10 years ago. Although I do agree some great strides have been made in safety, lets face it, NASCAR is going to keep the cars under the 200 mph barrier. Period.

There are some ways of slowing the cars down or changing their aero footprint that NASCAR has chosen not to utilize. I am not certain that this is due to poor effect in testing or if NASCAR ruled them out before giving them a try. One of these changes would include bringing back the strip across the roof that was used several years ago. This strip made closing rates too fast at the time, with the old car, but one would think that a variation of this could make it much easier for cars to bunch up and overtake a two car break away. Another change would be to change the rear downforce on the cars to make it more “uncomfortable” for a driver to be pushed, especially in the corners. I am sure the latter idea would not be very popular with the drivers.

The point is that surely there is an aerodynamic change that can be made to break the cars up a little. The problem may be that the change would require too much change in the look of the cars. You can’t have a restrictor plate car that looks noticeably different than do the cars for the other tracks. Also, NASCAR has worked long and hard to develop the current design, and changing it, as we are seeing now for the 2013 season, is a long and arduous process.

The sad truth for those fans who do not enjoy the current way of plate racing, change is probably not coming for at least a few more plate races. If at all. It seems that many in the media and some fans like the fact that many restrictor plate aces are not necessarily as strong at the new form of racing. No doubt Trevor Bayne may have done well had the 2 car draft not dominated the Daytona 500, but without proving himself by pushing one or two cars relentlessly, it is likely he would have been shuffled out of contention near the end of the race.

The fun thing about watching this new form of racing technique is that all of the drivers are having to learn and adapt their own styles. Not only that, they also are having to communicate directly with other teams and drivers to set up the two car runs and to change position to prolong the run.

At any rate, two car drafting is here to stay… For now, at least…



Be sure to follow Joseph Davis on Twitter @the_Bumpdrafter

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