In an effort to put an end to a string of fires damaging Next Gen cars, NASCAR delivered a regulations update to Cup Series teams with changes to the cars that will go into effect this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
This comes as Kevin Harvick continued to criticize NASCAR and the Next Gen car in response to the rubber buildup that caused his car to catch fire at Darlington Raceway.
“What a disaster for no reason,” he said. “We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy-ass parts.”
He implied that the sanctioning body do not really care about the issue being fixed. On Tuesday, NASCAR responded, calling the fires “unacceptable” and pledging to deal with them quickly.
Following Indianapolis Motor Speedway fires involving Chris Buescher and Joey Logano’s cars last month, NASCAR already required an upgrade to the exhaust shroud coming into Richmond Raceway. The governing body has since issued new instructions.
The top of the splitter panel and the back of the front clip weight box need to be separated by a lateral seal or dam. The breadth of the engine panel must be reached by this seal’s lateral extension. Reduced tire debris migration from the splitter area is the goal of the seal/dam.
The right-side back stop panel’s lower front piece has been trimmed, and the removed portion has to be replaced with a panel made of 14 gauge stainless steel. The steel panel must be mounted in front of the polymer panel.
It is also suggested that the space between the exhaust and the floor of the rocker box be maximized using any join adjustment available in the exhaust assembly.
