NASCAR Cup Series

Teams face limits at Chicago race

Published Sep. 12, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

I believe Hendrick Motorsports will adjust to NASCAR’s ruling that “reconfirms the limits NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams can go in setting up their rear-end suspensions in their race cars” that takes effect this weekend.

The team is going to adjust, but it will have an effect. It’s unfortunate that NASCAR officials deemed to make a change like this, but it’s their ball and bat and they have the right to change the rules as they see fit.

NASCAR is limiting the amount of movement in the rear of the car after advancements were made in the area that helped the steering in the rear of the cars. Drivers have claimed that Hendrick was making gains there and the area was becoming one of study in the garage, while NASCAR has previously stated that the organization wasn’t breaking any rules. Now, improvement in that area is limited once more.

I just felt like if you’re not breaking a rule, why are you taking something away from these guys that they came up with and oh-so-many other teams knew about and were making adjustments on their own right to get like that. It’s a shame that when you have a gray area and you do say it’s OK to work in certain areas, that you keep tightening the framework. Unfortunately, NASCAR is pushing the series more and more toward an IROC Series, and I hope that doesn’t happen.

I know that certain rules have to be adhered to, just like the body constraints and body location and all that they’ve got with the car and the claw that happens each and every week.

But I thought this was one of the areas they were going to let the teams figure out on their own. And if they could figure out how to make something work a little better, then hats off to you and good job.

Undoubtedly, they have a different view from it than I what I do.

I’m taking it strictly as a fan of the sport and someone who at one time believed that when NASCAR made a rule at the first of the year they never changed it to the end of the year.

Here, we’re going though, this will be the third or fourth rule change, maybe more than that, that effects the competitors during the actual course of the season, from skirt heights to shark fins to now adjusting the drivability of the race car and the handling of the race car based on what the teams have come up with.