For the first time in six years, NASCAR has made a significant change to the Xfinity Series rules package, one designed to increase relative parity and reduce the visual affect known as crab-walking.
To force teams back towards straighter bodies on the straights and entering the corner, NASCAR has ordered teams back to 51″ truck arm from the 45″ they used the past several seasons.
While the racing has been extremely compelling during that time, JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing has especially separated themselves from the pack. Teams had figured out how to get skew built back into their cars by bending the truck arms in a certain way.
The skew effectively helped cars cut through the corner and make downforce but in a visually polarizing way. That’s to say nothing of creating competitive separation. While there will be immediate slight changes to the racing product in the Xfinity Series, the expectation is that teams will find ways to get that downforce, sideforce and overall grip back.
2020 Truck Series champion and Richard Childress Racing driver Sheldon Creed detailed what he experienced from the January 30 open test at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“So far, it seems like overall less grip, less rear grip,” Creed said. “That’s the main difference. For example, our car is decent on entry, but you have to be nice and patient with it because we’re all fighting rear grip now.
The Xfinity car was already harder to drive and now, it’s even more of a handful. There will be a lot less throttle time, which I think will make it fun, but it’s going to race a little worse in the air, I think, based on how we’re fighting to find grip, but I think we’ll eventually get it back. But it’s going to be interesting the first few races.”
Daniel Hemric, who won the 2021 Xfinity Series championship driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and now drives for Kaulig Racing, expects the cars to drive closer to the 750 spacer, low downforce rules package used by the Cup Series from 2016-to-2018.
“One thing that initially sticks out to be is that corner entry speed seems up because the cars are straighter and not as draggy down the straightaway,” Hemric said. “That being the case, some of the things we’ve seen, 2016, 2017 and 2018 lower downforce Cup stuff.
“It has the feel of that where corner entry speeds are up, mid-corner speeds are down and because of that, it gets hurt in traffic a little worse.
“I know…
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