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This weekend kicks off ten ‘Days of Thunder’ at Charlotte Motor Speedway starting with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday, May 20th, then the Sprint Showdown and All-Star races on Saturday, May 21st. Days of Thunder will close with the Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 29th.
The defending winner of last year’s Sprint All-Star race is Denny Hamlin and he says that recent changes in the format and rules package will bring plenty of strategy into play this weekend and he’s optimistic about the quality of racing fans will see on Saturday night.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of variables coming up this weekend at Charlotte, between the rules package and obviously the format,” says Hamlin. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how it all plays out. As a driver, there’s going to be a lot of strategy played with crew chiefs and drivers. To see how it all works out, we’ll have to see on track Saturday.
“I personally look forward to it. It should be pretty exciting.”
So far this season, the racing on track has been the best fans have seen in quite some time with a lot of the credit given to the new low-downforce package from NASCAR. But there could be more done to improve the overall package and this weekend’s non-points event is a test of exactly that.. Some worry that slowing the cars down will ruin great racing on the track – Hamlin disagrees with that notion.
“I think it’s just kind of an effort to keep going down the path that we started this year of taking downforce away. Most of these changes are going to take side force away, which to a fan may not mean much, but it’s all really an effort to take the center of the corner speed down.
“Ultimately we can take more chances when the speeds are down and the person in front of us is lifting off the throttle. It allows us to carry it in there, similar to like I did in Kansas. It gave me the opportunity to make a move. It may work, it may not. It didn’t in my case, but at least gave me the chance to.
“I think it’s kind of an effort to make the racing better. I think anytime you slow the speeds down, racing will always be better. I look forward to it.”
For those resisting the changes in place by NASCAR for this weekend, understand these changes are in part driven by the newly formed driver’s council with an intention to improve the racing product for the fans. That’s very different from the past when changes were sometimes driven by a manufacturer advantage to bring parity to racing. With the great start of the season from drivers at Joe Gibbs Racing – all four drivers have wins qualifying them for the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup – it’s easy to get the wrong impression from the past, and think changes this weekend are to stunt the perceived JGR advantage. Hamlin discredits that thought by saying teams are smarter, thus catching up quickly.
“No, I think the rule changes have to come with the drivers council having some influence with NASCAR. We’re trying to achieve really the same goals.
“Right now between NASCAR, the RTA and the driver council we’re all trying to reduce corner speeds. Obviously with the downforce that was taken away in the off-season, what you don’t see is what’s happening behind the scenes, and that is that teams are getting smarter.
“We’ve come up with a great package, but we just can’t settle with that. Let’s just keep trying to get more. That’s what we’re doing this weekend.”
Granted, every team looks to gain an advantage over the competition – that’s inherent to the sport. In the Sprint Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports had the competitive advantage and now it’s Joe Gibbs Racing. When one team seems to have found a competitive edge, the others look for how their teams can surge ahead. It’s called gamesmanship for a reason – teams play games in their efforts to mask their efforts at gaining an advantage to keep competitors at a disadvantage. With teams getting smarter as Hamlin says, it means more work for NASCAR in keeping the gamesmanship to a minimum and Hamlin says, there’s still room for more changes and gives his suggestion.
“I think what happens is that they give us tolerances.’ says Hamlin. “What happens is teams push to those tolerances or even more, then they figure out a way to get their car back within tolerance before it goes through inspection again.
“It is kind of comical at times to see all the games that get played. But, I mean, ultimately every team is doing something to try to get an edge.
“I’m all in favor of, hey, let’s weld the backs of these cars dead solid so there is no movement and let us go race and not have to play any of those games.
“I’m all for the changes and anything that can reduce corner speed that is going to make for better racing for the fans. I like the changes personally, and I think it will be better.”
Watch the Camping World Truck Series on Friday, May 20th at 8:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 1. The Sprint Showdown and All-Star races are Saturday, May 21st on FOX Sports 1 at 7 pm ET.