NASCAR will ban windshield wipers in dry conditions on road course events next season.
For races that take place in the wet, NASCAR and Goodyear have developed a rain tire that has only been used a handful of times. The rules also allow teams to install a windshield wiper blade, too.
However, as teams are prone to do, they found a way to exploit the rules.
Back in 2015, a handful of teams started running the wiper blades regardless of the weather, leading to speculation that it provided a competitive advantage. Back in June at Sonoma, a large majority of the grid featured blades positioned at the exact same angle.
Thus, NASCAR will ban the blades unless track conditions dictate them.
“We’ve typically let them run the wiper blade whether it was dry or whether it was not,” NASCAR senior vice president Scott Miller said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Ironically, that’s on our list for 2019 rules, and we will tell them when they can and when they can’t run the windshield wiper blade. If we see anything this weekend that is completely outlandish, we will probably react to that. Typically they’ve been able to run the blade whenever they want to, and we’re definitely looking at that.”
Theoretically, it’s plausible that the blades redirect air onto sensitive areas of the car to aid turning or displace the air to reduce drag and produce straightaway speed. Each team will privately say something different. Some have even said they ran it because others were running it.
Monkey see, monkey do.
The wipers don’t even stay fixed during the course of a race, leading many to believe the results are too erratic to even indicate a positive gain. But some teams showed up with non-approved blades at Sonoma, forcing NASCAR’s hands and this sentiment from Miller.
In any case, there is a chance of rain for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and Cup Series final practice at Watkins Glen International. A handful of Xfinity road course races have been contested in the rain in recent years.
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