Winging It: Drivers, fans happy that Bristol is last race for the rear wing on Sprint Cup car
The rear wing on NASCAR's Sprint Cup car will be used for the final time in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
BRISTOL, TN. – When Kyle Busch climbed from his car after winning the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2007, he gave NASCAR’s car of tomorrow a stamp of disapproval that has haunted the new car ever since.
“This car sucks,” Busch said.
The car has traveled a rough road and had a checkered past ever since.
Drivers never fully adjusted to the new car and fans never accepted its odd look with a weird-looking splitter on the front and a rear wing strapped on the back.
As a result, NASCAR will scrap the wing following Sunday’s race at Bristol and switch to a more traditional spoiler.
It’s a move fans and competitors are looking forward to.
“The spoiler is preferable,” says 51-year-old Mark Martin, NASCAR’s oldest and most experienced Sprint Cup driver.
“Aesthetics-wise, it looks like a race car, it looks like a stock car, it looks like a NASCAR car just the way that I remember them going all the way back to the ‘70s. That side of it is great.”
The new car debuted at Bristol in the spring of 2007 and was used for about half the races that season. It was used full-time beginning with the 2008 season.
The spoiler will be used for the first time at Martinsville Speedway next week, following an open test session with the new configuration at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Though drivers and teams have had trouble adjusting to the new car – and making adjustments to it – the biggest reason for the switch to the spoiler is the disapproval of fans, who have complained from the start about the new car and its look.
“I think the majority of the reason the wing is being changed is because of the way it looks,” driver Jeff Burton says. “That means I believe the wing could have worked, and we’ve seen that.
“If you look at the races at the end of last year, the middle part on last year, you look at the racing we have seen this year, all those races that we have had that have been really good have been with the wing. So it doesn’t mean we can’t be successful with the wing nor does it mean we can’t be successful with the spoiler.”
Drivers believe, however, that the spoiler will lead to better racing by creating more downforce, better grip and more adjustability in the cars, especially with better tires developed by Goodyear.
“I think the cars will be good with the spoiler,” Burton said. “[But] the biggest improvement in the car has been the tires. We now have tires that make reasonable grip and now the cars drive much better because of the grip the tires make.
“I believe the car could be successful with the wing because we have seen it be successful with the wing. But in no way do I think it can’t be successful with the spoiler.”
“The racing will continue to get better and [the spoiler] is one small part of that,” Martin said. “It will make cars more competitive – they’ll race better, pass better, and run in packs better. Also, kudos to Goodyear for continually making big strides in putting tires on the car that the cars really like.”
One of the biggest critics of the new car and proponents of the change has been four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who has won just once in the past two years. He’s looking forward to the increased downforce the spoiler may create.
“I never had a big issue with the wing,” Gordon said. “I guess it wasn’t mounted on the car the way that wings on race cars should be mounted, but that wasn’t that big of a deal.
“I’m looking forward to the spoiler and using that on the car because I think we’re going to have more downforce. It helps with our valence, as well – that’s good. The fans like it – that’s good.
“I see a lot of positives, so I am looking forward to that.”
