So with a little less than a month to go before the season, what are everyone's predictions for this year? I'm not sure if Johnson is going to be able to pull it off again this year, his wife is expecting a baby over the summer and that could be a distraction for him when it gets down to chase time. Even without that, 5 in a row is ridiculous, if anyone can do it though its probably him. Someone has to step up to the plate this year, I'm going to go with my man Tony Stewart. He did great last year as a first year team(even though he was in Hendrick cars) and I think this year him and Newman should be even stronger.

No more wings on the COT? That would be awesome. I always hated that wing from the minute I saw it and would love to see them go back to the blade spoiler. Not sure how this will effect racing though, taking away some rear downforce should loosen the cars up right? I was always under the impression the drivers thought the car was too tight and hard to turn, so it could be a good thing.

And finally, they're getting rid of yellow line/bumping rules at the superspeedways. Another thing I'm looking forward to. First couple races will probably be a mess with people making stupid moves, but I think eventually the drivers will start policing themselves, and that's how it should be. Let them race.

Are they going to make changes to the CoT already? Didn't see anything about that.

But I am happy to see that the speedway rules will be improved.

However, I think the biggest news right now is that Nelson Piquet jr will be in NASCAR trucks with Red Horse Racing.

The thing is...RHR finished 8 and 9 in the final standings with 1 win. Piquet is going to a good (albeit) poor team so there will be a LOT of pressure on him. It's a do or die deal right now. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about his involvement in NASCAR considering he's such a fail in F1.

Here's the article: http://www.entertainmentandsho ... join-nascar-2010011530849

Geez Ford Mustang in 2010
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/0 ... d-in-the-nationwide-seri/

I hope MAYBE, Replecing too Dodge and Chevy :P, to Concept Models .

Quote from lizardfolk :

Are they going to make changes to the CoT already? Didn't see anything about that.

Was a rumor for about the past week or so but the news today pretty much seals it.

http://www.nascar.com/2010/new ... poiler.adapted/index.html

Quote from lizardfolk :

However, I think the biggest news right now is that Nelson Piquet jr will be in NASCAR trucks with Red Horse Racing.

The thing is...RHR finished 8 and 9 in the final standings with 1 win. Piquet is going to a good (albeit) poor team so there will be a LOT of pressure on him. It's a do or die deal right now. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about his involvement in NASCAR considering he's such a fail in F1.

Here's the article: http://www.entertainmentandsho ... join-nascar-2010011530849

Same thing with Danica in Nationwide. She's going to a decent team that is capable of winning races, if she doesn't perform, I think the only person you can blame is the driver.

I think Montoya came to the sport under better circumstances to get experience. While Ganassi isn't exactly a single car team, they weren't out there winning races either if I remember correctly. So there weren't huge expectations for Montoya to start winning right off the bat. Now as he got a couple seasons under his belt, the team has also improved, through mergers and stuff, and now you have to consider him as a guy with at least an outside shot at a championship. I'd say he'll definitely make the chase at least.

All this bullshit talk on the rear spoiler replacing the wing it isn't gonna make much difference, if not any, to the racing we see.

Quote from hansonator69 :

All this bullshit talk on the rear spoiler replacing the wing it isn't gonna make much difference, if not any, to the racing we see.

the cars will look better IMO.

Quote from mutt107 :

the cars will look better IMO.

You mean they'll look more like stock cars than gts? I don't really see why people care so much about how this will make the cars look.

Blocky american style gt or more stockcar looking...Ooooooo big difference...seriously nothing will look worse than the new f1 anyway.

Anyone know how much less downforce the spoiler will produce? I could care less how it looks most of the time, I just want to know about the racing aspect of it. It should make the cars looser yes, and after watching random saves the past couple years I hope you can't "dirt track" the cars...

As far as the no yellow line deal, I say they keep it out for 2 races.

I reckon NASCAR, drivers and teams are putting this forward because the fans are bitching and it would cost hundreds of thousands in revenue with merchandise sales, ticket sales, etc...

Quote from UncleBenny :

Same thing with Danica in Nationwide. She's going to a decent team that is capable of winning races, if she doesn't perform, I think the only person you can blame is the driver.

.

*cough* JR *cough*

Quote from PMD9409 :

Anyone know how much less downforce the spoiler will produce? I could care less how it looks most of the time, I just want to know about the racing aspect of it. It should make the cars looser yes, and after watching random saves the past couple years I hope you can't "dirt track" the cars...

As far as the no yellow line deal, I say they keep it out for 2 races.

actually, a spoiler will create more downforce, making them even more tight (understeery).

Not only that, but the spoiler will create a huge vortice behind it of empty air, which will make cars following it understeer even more.

The wing had the huge benefit of cutting through the air, and not leaving a huge messy wake behind it, the spoiler is the opposite.

My opinion on this whole "fans demanding change" is that they seem to think the racing quality has changed, so they automatically point at the most stand-out feature of the new car, without knowing what the hell it's there for, and blame it. Good job whiny fans

biggest advantage to the spoiler over wing ( and probably the reason it got changed) is when the cars get spun around the teams have been saying that the wing is generating a lot of lift with the air hitting it from behind causing more flips and flying cars, the spoiler just produces a load of turbulence etc. the wing would have been fine if they had made it with a wide amount of adjustment that could be done quickly in a pitstop as it would have allowed drivers to tune out push if it occured and / or take a gamble on a looser car, the advantages would have outweighed the problems

The spoiler creates vortices and turbulent air for the car behind, and the wing (since it has endplates) reduce vortices. Think of the rear wing endplates as airplane winglets, they're placed there to reduce vortices.





Also another advantage of the wing is the endplates can be "offset" to create side forces to help the car turn.

Quote from RMachucaA :

actually, a spoiler will create more downforce, making them even more tight (understeery).

Not only that, but the spoiler will create a huge vortice behind it of empty air, which will make cars following it understeer even more.

The wing had the huge benefit of cutting through the air, and not leaving a huge messy wake behind it, the spoiler is the opposite.

Point taken.

I was under the impression that the sideplates on the wing and the wing itself together produced more downforce/sideforce then just the spoiler alone. If the spoiler produces more downforce though then I am deeply saddened.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Point taken.

I was under the impression that the sideplates on the wing and the wing itself together produced more downforce/sideforce then just the spoiler alone. If the spoiler produces more downforce though then I am deeply saddened.

Well... The spoiler creates more downforce in general, yes, but it also makes the car looser in packs. Since a wing allows air to pass under it it also allows air to hit the following car lower. A spoiler will not touch any air when a car is really close behind it. So, yes, a spoiler will create more downforce than a wing, except when racing close to others. And getting close to someone will be easier with spoilers. Add to that that a wing helps keep the car going forward with the wing-endplates and a spoiler doesn't, and you may have closer racing with more action.

One thing I didn't like about the wing was the way it made the car forgiving in turns. It was virtually impossible to spin simply due to loss of grip. If it went round it was 'easy' to save. That problem is gone from Martinsville on.

The front splitter will help trailing cars keep front end grip while close to another car, so I expect more bumping and more overtaking by getting opponents aero-loose. (and more wrecks the first few races).

BTW, Martinsville isn't a good place to introduce it. Won't make much of a difference there, too slow.

Quote from TagForce :

Well... The spoiler creates more downforce in general, yes, but it also makes the car looser in packs. Since a wing allows air to pass under it it also allows air to hit the following car lower. A spoiler will not touch any air when a car is really close behind it. So, yes, a spoiler will create more downforce than a wing, except when racing close to others. And getting close to someone will be easier with spoilers. Add to that that a wing helps keep the car going forward with the wing-endplates and a spoiler doesn't, and you may have closer racing with more action.

One thing I didn't like about the wing was the way it made the car forgiving in turns. It was virtually impossible to spin simply due to loss of grip. If it went round it was 'easy' to save. That problem is gone from Martinsville on.

The front splitter will help trailing cars keep front end grip while close to another car, so I expect more bumping and more overtaking by getting opponents aero-loose. (and more wrecks the first few races).

BTW, Martinsville isn't a good place to introduce it. Won't make much of a difference there, too slow.

I feel so smart now.

I agree that the cars seemed too forgiving, I hated that quite a bit.

Dang, almost beating you in post count.

But I still think the spoiler looks better.

Yup even if it races the same, at least it looks better now.

Am I wrong or would getting rid of the front splitter have a much bigger impact on racing than the spoiler change? Seems like they're getting all their front grip from that thing, and when they get up behind someone and the air is gone, you can't really do anything with the car any more. The front end of these cars needs to be less aero dependent.

Pics posted on Brian Vickers' facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/photo. ... 501791&id=75269278650

Here are the separate pictures for people that don't have Facebook.
http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... mp;stc=1&d=1264029889
http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... mp;stc=1&d=1264029889
http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... mp;stc=1&d=1264029889

NASCAR needs more right turns.
I reckon NASCAR should axe California Speedway to have 2 more road races, including 1 in the chase.

Quote from hansonator69 :

NASCAR needs more right turns.
I reckon NASCAR should axe California Speedway to have 2 more road races, including 1 in the chase.

Apparantly Cali brings in alot of money so they don't dump it.

They need to get rid of a couple tracks for sure.

If NASCAR has laguna i will fall in love LOL.