The NASCAR Next Gen car is a highly advanced combination of technology and mechanics. To put one of these machines together and complete a professional race in no easy task. The difficulty of the same is visible every race weekend as teams sweat it all out to just keep the handling on their cars intact. Without question, the men behind the wheel play a crucial role in perfecting this art.
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Joe Gibbs Racing, through a video on social media, explained how drivers help their crew chiefs and pit crew find the right handling balance on the cars. Depending on various factors, a car could be tight (not steering much) or loose (steering too much) during a race. The crews get to know of this primarily from the feedback of the drivers.
Once the driver creates an awareness of the situation in the cockpit, it is up to the crew chief to decide the course of action. Using the feedback, simulations and other data points such as tire wear, the chief and his engineers make a call on how to make the car better for the driver. The air pressure on tires can be managed during a race and wedge wrench can be used to adjust the springs.
A deeper explanation of what causes oversteering and understeering in NASCAR cars
NASCAR cars use special suspensions made with springs which absorb energy from the tires and distribute them elsewhere with dampers. The level of this distribution can be a factor in causing understeer or oversteer. Depending on the same, the tires lose their bounce quickly and regain traction. These suspension springs can be adjusted using the wedge wrench and subsequently control handling.
Furthermore, every NASCAR track has a different character that affects handling. They also undergo physical changes even within the course of a race and make reason for the handling to be adjusted. As a result, crews can be seen adjusting the springs multiple times within a race. Team and drivers, at the end of the day, seek a balance in handling. That is, a situation where there’s no tightness or looseness in turns.
There is another way to ensure that the car doesn’t fall prey to the force that causes it to spin off in turns, slowing down. But releasing the throttle to manage handling is as good as driving back to the garage and calling it a day. All the points in the game lie in how good of a car that a team can put on the track and how skilled a driver is in being able to maneuver it.
