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By Alex Harrington
Sports Contributing Writer
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NASCAR has confirmed that it is bringing no change to the superspeedway package for its cars this weekend at Talladega after failed tests leading up to the weekend. Championship contender Christopher Bell has discussed his thoughts ahead of Sunday's race, admitting that he wants more than just a change to the superspeedway package.
NASCAR has been tackling cars going airborne since 2023, something that has plagued the Next Gen car design since its inception. The sanctioning body has implemented a number of aerodynamic changes to try and fix the problem, but while it's much less severe now, the issue of cars flipping still persists.
Speaking with the media at Talladega including FOX Sports' Bob Pockrass, the driver pushed for a more substantial change from the sport.
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"There's no change for this week. I mean, I have my full faith in them that they're doing the best that they can to make sure the races and the cars are as safe as possible. So, honestly, I haven't really thought about that too much.
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"I would enjoy a new superspeedway rules package - not just a safety package, but a rules package to try and change up the way that these races are going. But I haven't heard anything about that, and I know that NASCAR's working hard to make sure that the cars are safe.
"But I think it's time to start thinking about the style of racing that we have here. You don't want to have to move field mileage and run at 50 or 60%. I don't think anybody wants to do that. Even whenever it comes to go-time and you start racing and pushing hard, the cars are so locked down that it becomes hard to move. Once the pack forms and you're bumper-to-bumper and door-to-door, you rarely see movement in the pack.
"So, yeah, I would love to see them just change the rules package to allow us to race a little bit better. It's funny - we talked right before Atlanta and I was dogging the rules package, and then Atlanta ended up being a pretty good race.
"But just the inherent difference between Atlanta being a mile and a half, and Daytona and Talladega being bigger tracks, the style of racing is very different between the two."
October 2024 saw a number of changes to tackle this issue.
- An extended-height roof rail (a 2-inch polycarbonate fin) to deflect air if the vehicle slides sideways
- An extended rocker panel skirt to eliminate space between the car's floor and ground
- A fabric beneath the right-side roof flap functioning like a parachute to help keep cars grounded
NASCAR is currently designing a new flap that will sit on the A-post of the car, designed to reduce lift when the car goes into a spin. NASCAR officials have provided their own insights into these potential changes.
"We spent a lot of time looking at this. ... When Ryan's car crossed from the track, it hit the lip of the bus-stop chicane, which was protruding about 2 inches. So we had a pretty significant tire mark there and a chunk of asphalt missing," said Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, NASCAR's vice president of vehicle performance innovation aero via NASCAR.com.
"The other part ... I went and looked at some helicopter research and when you hover a helicopter over pavement, the engine power is let's say '100.' When you move over to grass you need '120' or '130' — I believe it was 30% more power. That's because of that surface. To me, it makes a lot of sense that the grass, we would have lost some of that downforce we had."
The A-post "started as a concept that wasn't really viable," he continued. "and then we had a couple brainstorms and sort of came up with this idea. It proved to be very, very effective."
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