Engine Changes on the Horizon in NASCAR as Next Step to Increase Competition

NASCAR has made significant changes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series over the past two seasons to try to increase the competition on the track and solidify the future of the sport. Changes ranging from the new Gen-6 car to the new knockout qualifying to the new Chase Grid format all build toward that.

The next change coming is changes to the engines used in the cars. NASCAR is in discussions with the teams and manufacturers and engine builders about what the best moves will be. Cutting the horsepower produced by the engines seems to be the main goal of the new engine package.

“We’re going to make that happen, and that’s part of the overall rules packages that we design that hopefully control costs, hopefully make the racing better,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “The engine is an integral part of that. We also have to be in step as much as possible with the car manufacturers and where they’re going with technology and different things. It all has to come together, and that’s the next significant part of the rules package. … The engine will get a significant change. I’m not going to say (for) ’15, but we are certainly sizing that up. It’s very important for us to get that right.”

Discussions are in the beginning stages according to those close to the situation so it is not decided if the new engine package rules would be implemented in 2015 or not until 2016 or later.

Right now there are five engine companies that provide the engines in the Sprint Cup Series. TRD and Triad Racing Technologies for Toyota, Roush-Yates Engines for Ford, and ECR Engines and Hendrick Motorsports for Chevrolet. The goal will be for all of them and NASCAR to decide what the best direction to go in for the new engine is.

NASCAR continues to tweak the rules package of the Gen-6 car and will continue to do that as well but the new engine with less horsepower should also help the racing especially at intermediate tracks.

“We know exactly what we’re trying to do with the rules package,” France said. “We think the (Chase) format is something we can build on for the next 10 or 15 years, or longer. We don’t want to change things just because we feel like it. It’s always difficult …. So I love the general direction we’re at. We’re past the majority of the changes, and now we can build on where we’re at.”

So the engine changes could be the last piece of NASCAR’s plan to bring the sport to where those in control feel like it should be moving into the future.

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