Greg Biffle cautious about high-drag rules for Indy and Michigan
There’s intrigue surrounding the racing implications of the new rules NASCAR is trying at Indianapolis and Michigan. The sanctioning body is raising the spoilers on the back of the cars from six inches to nine in the hopes of creating larger holes in the air for trailing cars.
The bigger wake would then create a large draft effect where drivers can slingshot around one another in the straightaways, especially at Indianapolis. It’s hard to pass at the Brickyard in the corners. By increasing the draft on the straightaway, there could be more passing there.
“In theory, it is,” Greg Biffle said Friday. “What’s gonna be the determining factor is can you get enough of a run, let’s take four cars and put them single-file, can you get enough of a run or be close enough to that leader in the dirty air with the big spoiler, can you be close enough and get enough of a run at him around the corner for it to pay off by the end of the straightaway.
“We all know that’s been a drafting race track, so under any rules package clear back to when I first started going there, if you didn’t feel you could get by him, you were gonna get passed by the guy behind you because the minute you pulled out and got beside him on the straightway, it punched a huge hole in the air so the guy behind you passed both of you. We’ve seen that happen all along, so now with this being more like that, certainly if we see guys get side-by-side it’s gonna be a huge draft, so we’ll have to wait and see on the single car how that transpires.”
While the increased spoiler could create some impressive passing, Biffle also pointed out the lack of aerodynamic downforce on trailing cars in the corners.
“It really is just higher drag because it does take away a little bit of downforce,” Biffle said. “I guess I thought about the nine-inch spoiler being a lot of downforce, but it does have that lip on it and it has that piece on the bumper, so it is actually a little less downforce, but high drag. What that does is it just blocks the air from the car behind you is all it does, so essentially the car behind you doesn’t have the downforce or the air on it that it does when it has a smaller spoiler, it doesn’t have all that drag effect.”
His comments note the razor blade NASCAR could be balancing on with the higher spoiler. Sure, more drafting could lead to more passing on the straightaways, but if cars lose a ton of downforce behind other cars the passing won’t happen. If a car isn’t able to stay close enough in the corners, there’s no chance to execute a pass on the straightaway.
Biffle said he liked the rules NASCAR ran at Kentucky, where spoilers were cut 2.5 inches. The lower downforce changes (and lower turbulence for trailing cars) meant drivers could pick their own lane in the corners.
“All have to say that from the driver’s point of view, just from being behind the wheel at Kentucky, was probably one of the best races that I’ve been in in a long time because we were able to do things we couldn’t do with the car before. You weren’t stuck behind that guy. You were stuck behind that guy because you always have been, but not like it was when the downforce was on it, it seemed like … And the speed in the corner was down just a little bit so that you could move around from lane to lane.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
