After the Cup Series race in Dover last Sunday, a few drivers were found complaining about “aero-blocking” in the Next Gen car that made it difficult to make passes. While the terminology is new, the tactic isn’t. NASCAR’s VP of competition, Elton Sawyer, has reiterated the same and made it clear that his team will not be looking into means to prevent it.
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In a conversation on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Sawyer was asked about the final stage battle between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. The latter had used aero-blocking to hold his position and fend off Larson to take the win. Larson, understandably, wasn’t pleased with how easily Hamlin dealt with him and called for the sanctioning body to consider options to make it harder to block the air.
Taking a note of all such calls that came up, Sawyer clarified that the strategy has been in use forever. “20 years ago, I remember hearing the word aero tight,” he said. “So I think it is just a terminology that the garage uses today. I don’t think this has anything to do with our current car.” He continued to talk about how it was in the nature of the sport to be difficult to make passes.
Elton Sawyer responds to Kyle Larson’s call to remove the rear-view cameras
A solution that Larson proposed to make aero-blocking harder was to remove the rear view cameras in the Next Gen car. He believed that giving leaders a plain sight of who was behind them and where, made it easy for them to change lanes and defend. When Hamlin was confronted with this opinion later, he contradicted it and said that removing the cameras would do nothing to prevent aero-blocking.
Touching upon the discussion, Sawyer sent a reminder across the field that it was the drivers who’d wanted rear-view cameras in the first place. He said, “This was technology that was put in the Next-Gen car with feedback from the drivers. They didn’t feel like they had the ability to see what they needed to see. So, it’s amazing that after three years, we could see more than what we thought we could.”
The VP concluded that the rear-view cameras can certainly be a point of discussion in the issue but not anytime soon. “We can talk about it. But I don’t see that as a top priority moving into Kansas this week or even next year,” he finished.
