Meanwhile, Back At The Track…

Weather permitting, there will be racing this weekend at Auto Club.

One of the fundamental ideas behind the new car was increasing the competition level at tracks like Auto Club (and Michigan and Kansas and Texas, etc.) by decreasing the dreaded aero push which made every lead car into a history lesson, reminding all of the French Second Army commander Henri Petain’s famous words at the Battle of Verdun in World War One.  You know — “they shall not pass?”  Compared with trying to get anywhere when the car in front of you is bludgeoning a path through the air which sends downforce down for the count, cutting through the fortress city’s defenses was like a wielding a hot knife in the direct vicinity of softened butter.

Unfortunately, the new car with its propensity for running loose hasn’t alleviated the effects of aero push.  If anything, it’s now worse.  The greatest challenge facing NASCAR today, even more than economics woes in general and manufacturer struggles in particular, is first admitting and then working on the fundamental reason for its present travails (and no, it’s not Digger).  It’s the absence of on-track action.  Until such time as cars are able to run side by side and pass each other at intermediate tracks, you’re not going to get anywhere.  Literally and figuratively.

Since this is highly unlikely to change in the next four days, time to dust off the hoary “it is what it is” and look at what most likely will be this weekend during those times when Albert Hammond isn’t being called out as a liar since it does too rain in southern California.  Races at places like Auto Club have been dominated by the House of Roush with guest appearances by the Hendrick gang and Gibbs’ brat pack.  Why?  Hard work and skill.  When you give top tier drivers a car with the fundamental speed to get out front and stay there, good things happen.  Also coming into play is the new car’s fundamental loose condition becoming even more pronounced when aero push is added to the mix.  This plays straight into the hands of those drivers who prefer a loose car; i.e. Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.  As long as the racing remains as it is they’re going to be the ones to beat.  And they are extremely difficult to beat.

The moral of the story is until such time as the new car’s basic configuration is modified to alleviate aero push we’re not going to see much if any improvement of the core product.  We’re going to have a lot of very dull races which would more aptly be labeled parades.  While in the pack there will be a certain amount of shuffling, up front little if anything is going to happen.  It is regrettable from a pure racing standpoint that IRL is steadfast in its determination to prove it’s a “real” racing league by scheduling as many road and street course events as it has running on ovals, for it is missing the opportunity NASCAR is equally steadfast in terms of dropping a gift into IRL’s lap.  Namely, oval racing with a difference:

A pass for the lead.