Nothing was going to "spoil" inspection at Martinsville Speedway.
Three hours and 15 minutes into the inspection process, all but seven cars had returned to their garage stalls ready to roll for the return of the spoiler on Sprint Cup cars.
NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton was pleased with what he saw Friday morning. Two hours before the first scheduled Cup practice, Pemberton wasn’t anticipating any issues.
“We’re done looking at the spoiler,” Pemberton said. “(The teams) got what they’ve got and it proved out at Charlotte that they had the right amount of down force on the cars. So everything looks pretty good.”
Officials in the assembly line-style inspection process noticed very little disruption. After the main body template covered the car, teams moved to a stage where the spoiler would be bolted on the rear.
Template chief Billy Berkheimer noticed a few more men accompanying the cars but witnessed few issues as the teams came through. Perhaps that’s because the inspectors attempted to make the process as foolproof as possible.
“It’s going to take the guys a little time to understand what bolts they need to use,” Berkheimer said. “But procedurally, everything is going wonderful.”
Berkheimer has two tools his group is using to cut back on the ability of teams to get creative. A rounded gauge allows NASCAR to check bolt holes at 1/64th of an inch. This keeps the teams from moving the spoiler up, down, left or right of the uniform setting.
In addition to a spoiler template, inspectors have a measuring stick that slides between the spoiler and the rear deck allowing for a margin of just 70/1000th of an inch through the middle. The ends of the spoilers must lay directly on the hard points with eight bolts. Berkheimer has a base and caps to seal the bolts, similar to the designs on the wing, “so once the bolts are sealed the teams can‘t get a wrench on it.”
“The teams have looked at the whole process pretty thoroughly trying to figure out how to manipulate the system,” Berkheimer said. “But I think they’re all happy because they see that everybody has the same thing to work with.”
Given NASCAR’s history of penalizing competitors that push the envelope outside the limits of the rulebook, it’s unlikely that teams will experiment with the spoiler during the early stages of use. As close as competition has become, the threat alone of losing points or money will be enough of a deterrent.
“Anyone that messes with the spoiler will be in a world of (stuff),” said team manager Tony Glover. “I don’t have the (guts) to do it.”
