The general sentiment flying around the NASCAR commentariat at the moment is that the the 2022 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 (actually held over 403 laps because of a late overtime period) at Martinsville Speedway, was categorically the most boring race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series. As this is also the first season of the Gen-7 car, questions are also being raised about whether or not this is just one of those things that happens occasionally, whether this is a thing which is going to happen more often, and whether or not this is a function of the car -itself. There have been a whole raft of changes between Gen-6 and Gen-7; which include both the construction and the body shape, as well as the entire drivetrain and tyres. About the only thing which didn't change is the engine.
The race at Martinsville featured just 5 lead changes among 4 different drivers and that by NASCAR standards is abysmal. In contrast, we saw exactly zero lead changes in the Formula One Australian Grand Prix; which Charles Leclerc scoring les grand chelem, of winning the race, starting from pole, leading every lap, and getting the fastest lap of the race. The Formula One race was generally agreed to be quite entertaining but the NASCAR race was not; thus proving that people's expectations are powerful things.
The reason for the lack of on track action was attributed to a bunch of things including the news six-speed gearbox which meant that the drivers were constantly shifting gears, or the fact that the ambient air temperature was only sitting in the single digits Celsius for the entire weekend, or that this was a brand new car and the drivers are still cautious not to tear them up.
I would like to add my own theory and throw my pamphlet onto the burning pyre of public opinion and suggest that the reason why this race was such a snorefest, was mostly due to the black art of tyres and the inescapable fact that they work better than ever before. Yes, I am blaming the objective improvement of the tyres for a worse quality motor race.
For the 2022 season, NASCAR changed the tyre specification from a 12-inch width tyre to a 14.37-inch tyre and increased the wheel size in the middle from 15-inches to 18-inches. What we now have is a slightly wider tyre, with a lower profile and that has all kinds of implications.
If the tyre is wider, then that means that there will be a larger contact patch on the ground. A larger contact patch means that there is more grip because grip has to do with force due to friction. Since the only point of contact between a car and the road is the underside of its tyres, then a larger contact patch on the ground means that the amount of grip and is increased.
Changing from a 15-inch to an 18-inch wheel, also means that the profile of the tyre is lower. If a tyre has a low profile, then that means that the height sidewall of the tyre is shallower, relative to a higher profile tyre. A lower profile tyre will be hotter because it can not dissipate heat as well, however because there is less flex in the sidewall, then the amount of cross slew forces across the face of the tyre will be reduced. Less cross slew forces across the face of the tyre also equates to more grip.
Having more grip means that the driver is able to turn the car faster and more positively, as well as being able to hold a tighter line through any given corner. Increased grip can either be achieved by having massively sticky rubber as in the case of Formula One, or in the this case, by presenting a larger contact patch that slips less, to the surface of the road.
This is especially important at a place like Martinsville Speedway because at just 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. That means that a car is spending a far larger proportion of its lap, turning through a corner and since the fastest way through a corner is usually to take the inside line and drive the shortest distance, then hugging the bottom line as much as possible is going to be the way to achieve the fastest lap times. Guess what? It is.
It has been known for years that the fastest way to go around Martinsville is to hug the bottom of the racetrack. If you go back through the races that are up on YouTube, the winner of race is almost always someone who can find allies and/or team teammates, to block and keeping one's opponents and rival on the outside for as long as possible. Entire races have been won and lost by holding the bottom.
Maybe once upon a time Martinsville may have been a two land racetrack but those day are long gone. Since well before 2010, there has been at most a lane and a half which is a useful groove around Martinsville.
For the race at Martinsville last weekend, we saw the odd instance of someone being pushed up the racetrack and while the bump and run was an option, there were in fact no spins. A spin happens when you get a complete loss of adhesion between tyre and the road and the fact that there weren't any at all, is proof that the mechanical grip of the cars is higher than ever before.
When you also factor in the fact that this year the cars now have a better aero package, larger rear diffusers and increased grip pushed forward, then that means that together that every car in the whole field was working better from a grip perspective.
Unfortunately, when every car is working better than ever before, when the useable groove to eke out some kind of advantage has become narrower than ever before, then the expected result should be that cars will tend to form longer and longer trains, with nobody behind having any ability to mount a sensible challenge.
A motor race where the lead doesn't change hands that often is almost always a function of one car/team having a massive advantage and nobody else being able to bridge the gap, or everyone being so incredibly close in performance that even the smallest advantage is enough to hold command of the race. What we have at the moment is the latter and since the advantage isn't coming from the cars themselves, then it is coming from being able to hold track position; hence the leader stays in the lead, which is precisely what we saw.
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