With the NASCAR Cup Series field returning to superspeedway racing at Talladega this Sunday, so will a highly controversial racing strategy. Drivers and teams have been opting to race at part-throttle through the opening stages of such races off late to save fuel and spend less time on pit road. Although this goes against the spirit of racing, there is a solid reason as to why they do so.
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Gaining spots on superspeedways has gotten particularly tough with the introduction of the Next Gen car. Going the way of such lesser-than-ideal strategies is how drivers can beat their rivals. Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney detailed the same during his pre-race interview ahead of this weekend’s event. He said, “Do I like it? No. I don’t know if anyone really likes it.”
“It’s kind of just turned into a gas game the first run of the stages to where, ‘Hey, I can take a second less gas or a second and a half, two seconds less gas than this guy and I’m gonna jump him on a caution or a green flag stop.’ And I think it’s just gotten this way mainly because it’s hard to make up spots anymore.” The draggy nature of lanes such as the third one in Talladega adds further need for it.
Since last year nearly every driver on the field has begun saving fuel to make up spots. It became a huge issue after the season-opening race in Daytona and also during the spring Talladega race that followed. However, as Blaney put it, this might just be the easiest way for drivers to gain spots. And that is all that matters at the end of the day. But is there a solution to this snag?
Veteran crew chief Rodney Childers explains how fuel-saving can be avoided
Childers spoke to reporter Matt Weaver earlier this year and expressed his views on the matter. He said that the only way by which fuel saving can be stopped is by reducing the number of laps in each stage and increasing the number of stages themselves. “If the stages were 40 laps instead of 60 laps, there wouldn’t be any fuel saving.”
“So, if you had two 40s and whatever else or however you want to split it up… that’s the only way I can see how you’re gonna control it. It is what it is. That’s kind of your only option.” These words were largely along the lines of what Dale Earnhardt Jr. also proposed on his podcast after the 2024 Daytona 500.
NASCAR could also follow Denny Hamlin’s advice and change the form of the Next Gen car to enable better passing on superspeedways. This would allow drivers to overtake each other through proper racing techniques rather than through a fuel-saving strategy. Either way, there is still a lot of headway to be made.
