NASCAR official weighs in on aero-blocking tactics in Cup Series

Much of the conversation in the aftermath of this past Sunday’s Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway has been centered around aero-blocking after Denny Hamlin held off a charging Kyle Larson in the closing laps to win his third NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

Hamlin, restarting second on the penultimate restart with 72 laps remaining in the race, got ahead of Larson when a crash coming off Turn 2 forced a caution. He retained the lead on the final restart with 62 laps to go and from there, went into playing defense against a charging Larson. Though Larson got within a few car lengths of Hamlin in the closing laps, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver held on to win.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said he doesn’t feel the subject of aero-blocking is a new thing nor does it have anything to do with the Next Gen car.

NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer praises Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson for battle at Dover

“I don’t even know if that’s an evolution thing,” Sawyer said Tuesday. “I think 20 years ago, I remember hearing the word I’m aero tight. So, I think it’s just the terminology that the garage uses today. Don’t think this has anything to do with our current car. I think what it really has a lot to do with is you had two of the best drivers in the history of our sport, without a doubt first ballot Hall of Famers in Denny and Kyle Larson. And both of them are on their A game right now. Just to think the 5 [Larson] is gonna drive up there and drive around the 11 [Hamlin], that just doesn’t happen.

“These guys, these teams are just really, really good. Whether it’s cameras or aero… I just think it was gonna be difficult for Kyle to make that pass. That’s the lure of NASCAR Cup Series racing. It’s supposed to be hard. Credit to both of those guys, they put on a great show.”

NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer touches on rear-view cameras in Next Gen car

After the race, Larson hinted that NASCAR should get rid of the rear-view cameras in the Next Gen car. Sawyer responded to Larson’s suggestion, saying it was installed “with feedback from the drivers.” Sawyer added it’s not something that’s a priority for the sanctioning body.

“And just on the camera, just to hit on that a little bit. This was technology that was put in the Next Gen car with feedback from the drivers,” Sawyer said. “This is something that when we started building this car and developing it… they do feel like they had the ability to see what they felt like they needed to see. So, it’s amazing after three years now, we can see more than we thought we could. It’s something that we can talk about. But I don’t see it as top priority moving into Kansas this week or even next year.”