{"id":27139,"date":"2019-07-05T16:10:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T21:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=27139"},"modified":"2019-07-05T18:40:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T23:40:06","slug":"nascar-president-steve-phelps-lauds-heightened-competition-under-2019-cup-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/05\/nascar-president-steve-phelps-lauds-heightened-competition-under-2019-cup-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR president Steve Phelps lauds heightened competition under 2019 Cup rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Perhaps the most visible hallmark of the first half of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season has been the quality of racing at 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, an assertion bore out by statistics and emphasized by NASCAR president Steve Phelps during a meeting with reporters at the sanctioning body\u2019s headquarters on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, leads a pack of cars during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 04, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve had an extraordinary year,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cI think the racing product has been exceptional. The good news is that it\u2019s not just me. It\u2019s the interaction we have with our fans, listening to our fans, whether you\u2019re talking about our fan council, radio shows that I listen to frequently\u2014by and large the fans are incredibly excited by what they\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would suggest that the data\u2014green-flag passes, green-flag passes for the lead\u2014are up significantly year-over-year. That\u2019s exactly what we were hoping was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s loop data metrics have tracked an increase in passing, including a 57% increase in green flag passes for the lead when compared to last season.<\/p>\n

For the 2019 season, NASCAR made significant changes to the aerodynamic and horsepower configurations of the current Cup race car, adding downforce and drag and reducing power to 550 hp at the larger speedways. The new engine architecture, which incorporates tapered spacers at all tracks, not only was designed to improve the on-track product but also to make the sport more attractive to potential new OEMs.<\/p>\n

According to Phelps, NASCAR is on schedule to roll-out its new Generation-7 Cup car for 2021, again with an eye toward enhanced competition as well as manageable costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the garage is on board with the 2021 start,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cAre there some that \u201922 might work better for? There might be. We have to figure out how we get full alignment on what that\u2019s going to be, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re working on\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, the importance of this car can\u2019t be overstated. It will allow teams to be profitable. That\u2019s what it comes down to. I think it\u2019s as simple as that. The great news is that the fan will be the beneficiary as well, because I think the car will have better body styling that the fans I think will really enjoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to do this thing the right way\u2014which we are\u2014the racing, which is already fantastic, should get even better. So I think the entire industry wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concurrent with the expected introduction of the 2021 race car will be a Cup schedule that continues to evolve. Already announced, the 2020 schedule features significant changes from the 2019 slate of races, with date changes for the second Daytona event and for Indianapolis, for example, and both Pocono races taking place on the same weekend.<\/p>\n

Phelps said, however, that he doesn\u2019t expect the number of races on the 36-event schedule to be reduced for 2021, but a different mix of race tracks for the Cup series is under discussion, given a consistent fondness for short tracks and a growing appreciation for road courses among the fan base.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow deep those schedule changes go, I\u2019m unsure at this point,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cWe are working with all the stakeholders, and I\u2019m confident that we\u2019re going to come to a schedule that our fans are going to like\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of models that are being developed. Asking NBC what their ideal schedule is, we\u2019ve done that. Asking FOX what their ideal schedule is, we\u2019ve done that. Asking the OEMs where they want to be, asking the teams where they want to be, it all goes into a large data bank, and then we\u2019re starting to craft what these models would look like that we think would be in the best interest of where fans want to race and have full grandstands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Perhaps the most visible hallmark of the first half of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season has been the quality of racing at 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, an assertion bore out by statistics and emphasized by NASCAR president Steve Phelps during a meeting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":27144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[287,16],"class_list":["post-27139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/MENCS_DIS2_Action_070419.jpg?fit=2683%2C1788","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-73J","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27139"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27146,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27139\/revisions\/27146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}