February 1, 2009
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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There are new rules ahead for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and it seems fans are up in arms over them.
The rules are as follows: Five men will be allowed to go over the wall instead of seven. Teams are not allowed to fuel AND change tires during the same pit stop. Teams also will not be able to use three different engines in three consecutive events, excluding the races at Daytona and Talladega.
Here is how the engine rule will work: After an engine’s initial use, competitors must declare the use of an engine for a future event. That engine will then be sealed by NASCAR until it is set to be used again. If an engine expires during a race weekend and the team must use a different engine, it must start in the rear of the field, just as in previous seasons. What about teams that don’t run the entire season? Well, the rule applies to a team's three consecutive races entered and not just the three consecutive races on the schedule, meaning that if a team skipped races, it would still need to race the same engine in two of any three events it enters.
All of the above moves are being made in an effort to save money for the truck teams. Unlike Cup teams who have millions of dollars a year to spend on their equipment and staff, truck teams usually work on a fraction of that. In this day and age when the big teams in NASCAR are having a hard time finding sponsorship, the truck teams seem to be feeling the pinch of the current economy especially hard.
Keep in mind, this change in policy is not something NASCAR came up with on their own. The decision to limit the number of men over the wall and the number of engines used in a row was actually presented to NASCAR by the team owners themselves. Truck Series Director Wayne Auton indicated it was Kevin Harvick who asked for the meeting of owners and NASCAR, and it was during that meeting that the changes were proposed, discussed, and accepted.
Stacy Compton, driver of the number 60 Wyler Camping World Truck Series Toyota truck, commented on Friday during an interview on Sirius Speedway that while these cuts will help, it won’t solve all the team problems. He says this will cut about $300,000 off a team’s budget, when they really need to cut about $700,000. He said another suggestion that was presented was making the races a true one day show, and thus eliminating teams’ needs to pay for hotel rooms and overnight per diems. That suggestion was tabled, at least for now.
Compton thinks that as the season goes along, they will probably tweak the system to better refine it, and thus, hopefully save more money. It will also take the race out of the drivers’ hands and put it on top of the pit box. “Now, all the sudden, it will be curious to see how the pit strategy works out. It is a crew chiefs race now.”
I have heard many people express concern that the “either/or” aspect of the new rule will cause issues on pit road. You can fill the gas tank on a truck faster than you can change the tires, which means trucks will be on different schedules when leaving their pit stalls. There is a fear that making a team come back into the pits a second time to complete the “gas and tires” combination gives the pit crew members more of a chance to “screw something up”. I have heard more than one complaint that “this will never work!”
If you don’t think it will work, I suggest taking a look at the Camping World East and West Regional Series. They have been working on this premise for a while, and so far, no one has been maimed, and I understand the racing in those series is actually pretty darned good.
Personally, I think this will make the races even more interesting. As the closing laps approach, it will be left in the Crew Chief’s hands to decide what is more important: liquid or rubber. You might be able to stretch a set of tires a few extra laps, but you can’t make gas go much further than what it is meant to. Sure, you want to see a race in the hands of the men and women behind the steering wheel, but this will ensure that all members of the team are brought into the mix.
After all, this is a “team sport”.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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