DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Executives representing NASCAR’s three engine manufacturers took questions from the media Friday in advance of the big season-opening race weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
They are coming off a season that saw all three makes – Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota – among the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Four in a season with 18 different race winners representing 10 teams and featuring a slight 1.3-second average margin of victory on the year and three of the five closest finishes in NASCAR history.
Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance, Dr. Eric Warren, General Motors, Director of Global Motorsports Competition and Tyler Gibbs, President of Toyota Racing Development (TRD) USA were upbeat and goal-oriented Friday, eager for the first green flag to wave.
Ford’s Joey Logano won his third NASCAR Cup Series championship and Ty Majeski claimed his first in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series while Chevrolet’s Justin Allgaier and the JR Motorsports team earned the NASCAR Xfinity Series top honors.
“For me, for us, 2024 I thought was a fantastic season and for the sport as well,” Rushbrook said. “The closeness with the finishes and the competition amongst the OEMs, working together off the track, but racing each other really hard on the track, and I just think it was great for the sport with the competition that we had on track.”
Among the topics raised was a rule book update NASCAR issued in mid-January regarding “performance obligation’ in reaction to the season’s penultimate race at Martinsville, Va. last year. In the race it appeared manufacturers purposely strategized to affect the outcome. The loss of manufacturer points, wind tunnel time and test sessions are among the possible penalties going forward.
“I think we’ve had a lot of dialogue,” Warren said of the new NASCAR rules designed to prevent any race manipulation among drivers of the same car make. We’re all competitors. We want to compete. As you look at the races, it kind of requires you to put some guardrails up.
“I think speedway racing, the important part is just because of the aerodynamics and the nature of speedway racing, you have to actually draft together to improve your performance and to be successful. I think it’s always been acknowledged and the discussions amongst all of us in NASCAR that speedway racing is different because of that.
“I think each situation is complicated, obviously, and things come up that you didn’t expect and you have to discuss. It’s a little uneasy sometimes trying to think about all these scenarios, but that’s just part of top-level racing and the competition. It’s just things we’ll have to deal with.
“We understand the principles, I think, as a whole. We all want to have great shows and great competition, and that’s really what we’re all here for and why we work together on those things.”
Asked about another important topic, the executives acknowledged that the three of them may soon become four with rumors of another manufacturer entering the sport in the near future.
“We recognize that it probably means between the three of us we share a few less wins, but it’s tremendous for the sport,” Gibbs said. “It’s good for the fan base. It’s good for just the activation at the tracks. It’s good for the advertisements on television. It just brings a whole lot more to the sport.
“So, from our perspective, we certainly would welcome another OEM or two.”
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
