NASCAR delivers verdict on new superspeedway package after Daytona debut

While fan reaction to the superspeedway rules package changes has been almost unanimously positive, NASCAR Cup Series drivers were split to a degree following the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. NASCAR has offered its initial impressions of the package, feedback received, and any potential changes for Talladega. An interesting note off the jump from NASCAR Vice President of Racing Communications Mike Forde. In discussing the package on this week’s episode of Hauler Talk, Forde revealed that in the NASCAR rule book, the Talladega rules package is (and has been) listed as TBD since the announcement of the new superspeedway package. He explained the package we saw at Daytona on Saturday was originally written for just Daytona, but during the announcement of that package back in July, NASCAR President of Event Management John Probst announced that it would apply to Talladega as well. Forde concluded by saying that, barring some unforeseen issue, Talladega will be scheduled to use the same package as we saw on Saturday night. NASCAR reacts to fan council feedback on new superspeedway package NASCAR has its own fan council that provides direct feedback to the governing body. The feedback from the fan council has been positive. “I don’t know if the answer is going to be fully known,” said Forde of the total feedback received. “We have our individual opinions, and we have an opinion each of our competition leads, John Probst, Elton Sawyer, Brad Moran, and so on and so forth. “But the opinion that matters is the fans and the industry. And we’re still collecting that data. We largely have the fan opinion gathered as part of our weekly process. This wasn’t just a, ‘We have a new rules package. What do you think type of exercise.’ This is something we do every week. “We get the feelings from the fan council, and the fan council liked it. And so what we do is we ask our fan council, and the fan council is made up of several thousands of avid NASCAR fans. “What that means is someone who watches every race, and they’re pretty religiously following NASCAR. We asked them to rate it on an excitement score. So how exciting they felt the race was, and it’s a scale of one to 10.” The fan council rated the Coke Zero Sugar 400 as tied for third in the 26 races so far this season. It tied with Nashville in excitement scores. There was no doubt what the top two races were going to be. “This weekend, and so a typical Cup race is, uh, I think we’re averaging 7.1 this year on the fan score, excitement score, and the Daytona race was a 7.7. And that puts it at a tie for third; first and second were both Atlanta races, and it’s tied with the Nashville race for the third most exciting, um, in terms of fan excitement score.” About the driver criticism of the package Several drivers said the package made racing worse or showed no difference to the previous package. Among those drivers were Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Christopher Bell. NASCAR is looking to receive more feedback on the driver front. But Mike Forde noted that NASCAR does know what was said publicly following the race. “We know what the drivers have said publicly,” said Forde. “We’ll have several one-on-one meetings. We’ll have probably an all-drivers meeting. I know we have at least, at least one scheduled for the remainder of the season in Homestead. “But we’ll get through Talladega and see what we have in Talladega as well. No decision on what the Talladega rules package will look like. When we announced the Daytona [package], John Probst did say that in all likelihood, the Talladega rules package will be the same as the Daytona [package], unless there’s a major change that’s needed.” Forde said NASCAR feels good about the package Forde pointed to the moves Chase Elliott was making Saturday night at Daytona as direct proof of the package’s initial success. He admits there’s still room for more improvement. “So I think we feel good about it. We liked it. We felt the things that we wanted to see and what came out in the CFD modeling was that there’d be a little bit more space between each car so that there would be opportunities to pull out and then pull back in if the pass didn’t work, or pull out and make an advanced pass. “And we saw a lot of lead changes at the front. There’s a period in time where Chase Elliott seemed like he could do whatever he wanted up front, for instance, and that was the type of stuff we wanted to see. “I think we thought it was an improvement. Sure. There’s ways to improve it even further. And, so I think that’s the next step.” Forde referenced Denny Hamlin and NASCAR further changes During this week’s Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin talked about the various options that were on the table to further improve the package. While he sided with toying with stage lengths as the next step, he brought up that there was another option to shorten the spoiler further, taking away more downforce. Forde said that while further changes to the package could take place this season, it’s unlikely that particular change would happen because of the lack of ability to do on-track testing. “Another thing that Denny said that I think is worth repeating is this was probably the biggest swing we could take without a test session,” said Forde. “That’s something that John Probst had also talked about during the announcement for this package, because major swings really need to get 15 cars down to Daytona to test. “And we’re not against doing that, but the timing just wouldn’t have worked out with the week-to-week schedule, the inventory, and so on. So we did the CFD modeling, and it’s very accurate. Obviously, we saw what we saw at Daytona, and that’s what the CFD modeling suggested. “So during the process, I think we did a three-inch spoiler. So an even smaller spoiler; we went with a four-inch; it was a seven. I think we did different power levels as well. And there were different aero tweaks, different power tweaks, and gear changes, things like that. “I think there could be changes to this package. My gut, this is based in zero conversations, but we do like having a larger- we like making decisions on a little bit larger sample size than just one race. “So I could see us taking this rules package, especially since the fans seem to enjoy the racing and try it at Talladega. It’s a little bit bigger track, a little bit wider, and probably more indicative of what we’re hoping to see out of this rule package is, which is more pulling out and passing.”