Did Jimmie Johnson's car look like it was running a little sideways when he was coming down pit road at Lowes?

Question

Like his rear axle was twisted some?

Answer 1

many of the cars were running a little "sideways," and on purpose.  ryan newman and sam hornish were running a LOT sideways - they were calling them "crab cars" as they seemed to be sliding down the track sideways even with the wheels turned straight.

and the reason that they, and many others looked that way is that roush and penske figured out and implemented that "twist" to give the cars more downforce and better capabilities turning in the corner.  nearly every car does it to some degree (it's called "yaw") and each team runs their car either more or less in yaw for handling purposes.  carl edwards was doing it throughout the beginning of the year and reaping the benefits of the additional down and side forces.  kyle busch once radio'd in to his crew from behind him saying how much "yaw" he had setup.  

the main problem with that setup is twofold: it is harder on many of the drivers, so not everyone can do it successfully - or at least not as successfully as guys like edwards, busch, and johnson - guys with really good car control.  worse, by putting the car too out of whack, it puts additional pressure on parts that make them more likely to fail in ways like breaking an axle.  nascar had no specific rule about it, so the car and crew chiefs tried taking maximum advantage, and nascar believes they went too far, so they have now mandated limits on how much this can be done.  

hornish's car was so bad that he could manage to get all four tires on the scale for inspection without jacking the car up first, and he even said he had a hard time parking it in the garage.  but it did help him run bad fast.  by next week, though, teams are supposed to be folling the new mandated standards.

Answer 2

they're not goona be able to do that anymore

they call it crabbin