Matt Crafton, for one, will miss tandem drafting at superspeedways, but he concedes its absence could enhance fans enjoyment of racing during Speedweeks.
NASCAR has banned tandem drafting (one car pushing another for sustained periods) in the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The edict will be in effect when teams return to Daytona International Speedway in February for the first competition of the new season.
Bump-drafting, on the other hand, where one car or trucks propels another forward with a tap to the rear bumper, remains a legal tactic.
Crafton, last year’s truck series champion, said he was disappointed to see tandem drafting on the prohibited list, because that style of racing allows two cars to hook up and escape a large pack. “I think the tandem deal… you can get away from people,” Crafton said Monday during a break in NCWTS testing at Daytona. “But now you’re going to have those packs of 20 trucks. It’s going to be crazy to watch, but now I think you’re going to be able to bump-draft.
“That’s one of the harder things to do is trying to judge it. Is that guy getting into a corner? Because, when you’re sitting behind somebody, you’re going to hit him, and you can’t really judge when you hit them.
“If you’re getting close to them, you can’t judge when you’re getting ready to go in the corner, and if you do hit somebody, it just might start turning the wheel left to go in the corner, and you’re going to cause a big wreck.”
But, the way Crafton sees it, the tandem ban should add to fans’ enjoyment.
“There’s going to be ‘goods,’ and there’s going to be ‘bads,’ like I said, but it will be good racing,” Crafton said.
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