NASCAR is expected to up its on-track practice time. Drivers have mixed reviews
NASCAR is reportedly increasing its on-track practice time at certain venues in the next month.
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How do drivers feel about it?
Based on drivers’ desire for practice time, it’s a mixed bag.
“More cowbell,” Ross Chastain said when asked about the possibility of more practice time in the media center of North Wilkesboro Speedway, referencing a famous “Saturday Night Live” skit. “Yes, more practice time.”
The other end of the reaction spectrum was provided by Bubba Wallace: “Eh,” he said. He then shrugged, utterly ambivalent.
The news was reported by Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic on Saturday, detailing that NASCAR Cup Series teams will soon be able to take advantage of double the amount of practice time before races on race weekends. Specifically, the report states that NASCAR officials will change the practice format from two groups of 25 minutes each to a 50-minute session involving all cars. Teams will be allotted two tire sets.
The practice-time change will go into effect beginning in next month’s New Hampshire race; extra practice time will be afforded everywhere besides the superspeedways at Daytona and Talladega.
“I don’t think we need, like, hours more practice, but I enjoy the weekends when we have 50 minutes with two sets of tires,” Kyle Larson said. “That way you have time to make an adjustment and learn something from it. Right now we’re just kind of you run a few laps; you come in; you pit; you make an adjustment, and then you really don’t know what your car is because you’re out there on kind of cycle tires and stuff.”
He added: “We don’t need the groups split for your practice. I think I would enjoy you actually having some traffic to be in and all that. So that would be my vote.”
Larson is the reigning series champion and sits sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings — the highest-ranked driver without a win on the year. But drivers who are also not from massive teams and who are fighting for positioning like the additional practice time.
Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones — sitting 16th, six away from the 10-driver Chase postseason — loves the idea of extra practice time, too.
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“For a group like ours, we do miss it a little bit, which happens more than the (big teams) — the Joe Gibbs Racings, the Hendricks, the Penskes,” Jones said. “It gives us a better opportunity to not totally throw away a weekend.”
Why? Because the less practice time, the more teams have to base their setups off the work they’ve done in the simulator leading up to the weekend, which typically favors teams more closely aligned with their manufacturers.
Where is more practice time necessary?
“Anywhere we haven’t been,” Jones said. “Chicago is really tough for us. We had a long practice, but we didn’t get much of it. We had some mechanical issues, and we struggled at the beginning of the race … so that was a challenge. Anywhere we don’t have good notes is a huge challenge for us as a company.”
At the end of the day, though, it won’t completely change the sport, Tyler Reddick said. Reddick is the points leader in the series and is part of an organization not named Penske, JGR or HMS — he is part of the remarkable emergence of the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing this year.
“The dirt racer in me, you gotta show up and gotta be on kill, you gotta be ready to go,” Reddick said. “And with the longer practice sessions, it gives everyone time to ease in. …
“Personally for me, it’s not what the sport needs. I’m pretty good when we just have to show up and race, given my background. But the extra practice time gives the rookie drivers more seat time. Look at the year that Connor (Zilisch) has had; just not a lot of laps completed. It benefits those guys.
“In some ways it can give the potential to help the teams that are off get closer, but it also gives the same opportunities to the teams that have it dialed in to (dominate more).”
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