Side Skirts

[WILDISH]

I've noticed this for a while, and after Twitter lit up about it briefly last night, I think it deserves a thread.

Back in the second Charlotte race last year. Anyone remember when Keselowski left pit road with the jack? It flared out his skirt, near the right-rear wheel. He ended up winning that race. Couple weeks later, Johnson wins at Texas with the same skirt pulled out. Definitely not a coincidence. I remember seeing Earnhardt and Johnson with pulled skirts at Phoenix. All four Hendrick and both Penske cars have shown the same modification during races this year. Those teams happen to be the most dominant. Surprise surprise, Brad won yesterday with a pulled skirt. I also recall seeing this on an SHR car recently. Not sure which one.

What are your thoughts? Of course, teams are always going push the limits and see what they can get away with. I understand that. But it seems to be providing a huge aerodynamic advantage. Curious if NASCAR has picked up on this or not.

Discuss.

 

[Phoenix]

I think the side skirt being "pulled" is the product of the jack being jerked out from under the car, and is not seen as a rules infraction. This has happened for multiple years, and does create an advantage to the car. However, it is the same circumstance as a car having a damaged rear bumper, and it is pulled off... the car gains an advantage from a mistake, or a misfortune. I don't think the NASCAR officials would consider it a rules infraction.

 

[jacobc62]

There was Las Vegas in 2005 where I think Jimmie Johnson's crew was told by NASCAR officials to repair the pulled out part of his car's side skirt (i think caused by the jack nof being pulled out in time). They did and he still wound up winning, but all i'm saying is that it's possible for officials to say "That misfourtune is causing too much of an advantage", and have done so before. Also, i've noticed that all of the cars have flared-out skirts due to the body styles.

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[DBReaver35]

There was Las Vegas in 2005 where I think Jimmie Johnson's crew was told by NASCAR officials to repair the pulled out part of his car's side skirt (i think caused by the jack nof being pulled out in time). They did and he still wound up winning, but all i'm saying is that it's possible for officials to say "That misfourtune is causing too much of an advantage", and have done so before. Also, i've noticed that all of the cars have flared-out skirts due to the body styles.

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If its pulled out enough he can use as a weapon to damage other drivers tires that is probably more the reason they asked to fix it.

 

[jacobc62]

If its pulled out enough he can use as a weapon to damage other drivers tires that is probably more the reason they asked to fix it.

Again, that falls under "It's giving him too big of an advantage". Not only could he cut other driver's tires down (which, we're talking about Johnson in the example here. We know that his team has a history of cheating, but I am 99% sure he wouldn't do something like that deliberately), but it was reducing the drag on his car so much that he was able to pull away faster than everybody else. NASCAR saw this and took action to protect the safety issues involved with the potential for Johnson to use the side skirt as a weapon, and NASCAR was starting to give teams a more level playing field at the time. They saw something that could be detrimental to Stock-Car racing and warned the #48 team about it. His crew fixed it to NASCAR's liking, and was able to continue without further incident.

 

[Doyle9]

Of course, that could be akin to the old "shop rag" trick, where you do something obvious to your car (flare out the skirt) to distract people from the real speed-making parts elsewhere on the car... Wouldn't you think other teams would catch on and use this trick if it really did that much aerodynamically?

 

[Julio Chang]

Worth noting Mike Hoag, who was Dale Earnhardt Jr's road manager, and one of the people that was the most vocal about Brad's side skirts, announced today he is no longer with Dale Jr or JRM. I'll let you make up your own mind on whether or not the two things are related but the timing has sparked a lot of discussion.

 

[dalejrgamer]

You know, if those side skirts are illegal, NASCAR would dish out the punishment by now.

 

[4WideRacing]

You know, if those side skirts are illegal, NASCAR would dish out the punishment by now.

Unless they are waiting for Homestead.

 

[MattSRD28]

All pit stops are fully recorded by multiple cameras. If Nascar felt like they needed to investigate possible intentional altering of the skirts by a jackman, it would be pretty simple to do so.

 

[Matthew124]

This same situation (flared out side skirts) has been happening since last year. It's also not just the Penske cars. I noticed the skirts on the #24 and #18 were the same way. Clearly.. NASCAR is either 'okay' with this or blind. Don't know why people want to bring this up now (outside of Dale's whatever tweeting about it). Been happening, gonna keep happening.