1/13/2013
NASCAR has outlawed tandem drafting on restrictor-plate tracks in 2014 for the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, which saw some brutal accidents at the end of the races at Daytona and Talladega last year.
The sanctioning body was able to eliminate tandem racing — where one car pushes another car around the track to increase the speed of both cars — in Sprint Cup with engine-cooling rules that make it difficult to orchestrate a tandem draft without overheating the engine.
It will try those engine cooling rules plus smaller spoilers in the Nationwide and truck series this year but also have issued an edict to the drivers in its two top development series not to tandem draft. Drivers can still bump-draft but can’t be bumper-to-bumper pushing beyond a tap.
“We had a few owners who came to us and said, ‘Look, you’ve got to help us. Just tell them they can’t do it and police it and we’ll help you with it,’” NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said in an interview with SN Saturday. “We’ll see how all that works out. It’s a reaction to a lot of things, and part of it you’d have to think that weighs in is the big wrecks.”
NASCAR has outlawed tandem drafting on restrictor-plate tracks in 2014 for the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, which saw some brutal accidents at the end of the races at Daytona and Talladega last year.
The sanctioning body was able to eliminate tandem racing — where one car pushes another car around the track to increase the speed of both cars — in Sprint Cup with engine-cooling rules that make it difficult to orchestrate a tandem draft without overheating the engine.
It will try those engine cooling rules plus smaller spoilers in the Nationwide and truck series this year but also have issued an edict to the drivers in its two top development series not to tandem draft. Drivers can still bump-draft but can’t be bumper-to-bumper pushing beyond a tap.
“We had a few owners who came to us and said, ‘Look, you’ve got to help us. Just tell them they can’t do it and police it and we’ll help you with it,’” NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said in an interview with SN Saturday. “We’ll see how all that works out. It’s a reaction to a lot of things, and part of it you’d have to think that weighs in is the big wrecks.”
