The sun rose today, NASCAR changed the plate size for the upcoming Talladega race.
As Bob Pockrass of scene daily notes:
At Talladega in April, the restrictor plates had holes that were 56/64ths of an inch in diameter. For the October race, the holes will be 57/64ths of an inch, which should result in an increase of 7-10 horsepower, which correlates to approximately 2-3 mph.
NASCAR keeps changing the rules at the plate tracks in an effort to get the fans on board. The two car draft happened once drivers found out that two cars directly touching each other were faster then long lines of drafting that we had seen in the past.
Fans call the new two car drafting boring as it’s often more of who is behind you then anything else. Drivers have complained as the car in back is driving blind with no ability to see though the car in front of it.
Since the two car tango has risen to fame, so has transmitting of messages from one driver to another. We’ve heard drivers from across company lines communicate simply looking for a good drafting partner.
The new plate size is NASCAR’s latest attempt to have the cars switch spots more often but with lower temperatures and more data by teams it’s unclear how much this will effect the race.
