Do you think NASCAR needs to change the Cup engine rules?

Question

Do you think there needs to be a rule change (engine or otherwise) in the Sprint Cup series to slow down the Toyotas? Before you answer, take a look at last year's vs. this year's results.

2007 win breakdown: Chevy 26, Ford 7, Dodge 3

2008 win breakdown: Toyota 8, Chevy 5, Dodge 4, Ford 3

Only one team (Gibbs) has won all 8 of Toyota's races, while two teams split Chevy's 5 (Hendrick 3, Childress 2) and Dodge's 4 (GEM 2, Penske 2). All three of Ford's wins were by Carl Edwards (Roush).

I'm by no means a Toyota fan (Kahne's my guy), but it looks to me like things are pretty even. At the very least, the playing field is MUCH more even than last year. What do you guys and gals think?

Answer 1

I don't think so. There have been wins from all four manufactures so far and GM has stepped up It's power so all is cool with me..

Answer 2

No I don't.

Those stats are very even, and I find it funny that this type of uproar didn't occur last season when Chevy won all but 10 races. People are crying because Toyota is competitive this year. Last season they bashed Toyota for being bad, this season they bash them for being good and doing their homework. What I'm saying is, the Toyota haters hate them win or lose, and shame on you if you hand facts in their faces.

If these people complain about Toyota, more specifically Kyle Busch, doing well this season, why didn't they complain about Chevy last year? Maybe because they were Chevy fans, or Toyota haters to begin with. They just don't want to be able to admit that JGR is a great organization, and Kyle Busch is a great driver. JGR is the only Toyota team winning, right? Were they in Toyota's last season? No. I agree with you.

You shouldn't punish someone for doing their homework

Answer 3

everything looks pretty even and fair to me

Answer 4

no, there doesn't need to be a change in the cup series engine department. there is far more parity in cup than there was in nationwide and there is far more at stake for all manufacturers to keep up with new technologies in that series.

in the nationwide series, jack roush and ford didn't want to spend the money to develop new special purpose engines just for that reason (they wouldn't be production engines) and as jack said "if they want to kill that series [nationwide] it's fine by me." and bottom line, he got what he wanted. toyota may have a special purpose engine that they developed, and chevy has their R07 ready for those teams who can afford it, but ford and dodge don't need to do anything at all now - those newer engines will be brought back down to their (ford and dodge's) level by the new rule, and if they make more advances, expect even stricter restrictor plates.

in cup, however, the money at stake is so much greater - not only in winnings, but in marketing for the manufacturers, that absorbing cost there in order to sell cars is a much easier pill to swallow. that's why you see such great efforts made to make everything but the engine pretty much exactly the same. and in that series, the money spent on keeping the engines on a level playing field is handled by the manufacturers and the teams themselves, not so much by nascar.

Answer 5

NASCAR needs to change every rule.

Answer 6

People who complain this year and not last are ones who still believe in Tooth Fairy  Chevy has had it's way till now simply because neither ford or dodge put the resources into it as Chevy did.  Now comes along Toyota with the resources (money and engineering), Chevy loses few and they want the tooth fairy (NASCAR)to punish Toyota cause JR and company cannot win without a assist from NASCAR  Sorry folks  the j**s are here,  most likely Jr and company will be driving their cars cause GM is starting down size there interests in racing hopefully to save money not to be bought out by j**s

Answer 7

The only way I could say yes or no is to see at least 2 more dyno tests from the Cup series. Some tracks Toyota does seem to run off and at others it seems okay so it's hard to say without figures.

Chances are as long as the wins and top 5 finishes keeps on looking like those results NASCAR may not even bother with looking into it.

Answer 8

Not in Cup but yes for Nationwide.  NASCAR needs to let Chevy use the same engine for all 3 series just like they do for Toyota.  Chevy is forced to use their old engine in Nationwide.

Answer 9

I'm not a Toyota fan but I think NASCAR should leave them alone. In my opinion NASCAR is trying to control the sport way too much and it's making for boring races. Don't punish a manufacture for playing by the your rules and can still make more HP than the rest. Just let the other manufactures keep getting spanked until they decide to step up to the plate and figure out how they can make the same HP. Basically make a manufacture in NASCAR more than just a sticker on a car.

Answer 10

I'm pretty sure it's Gibbs that's doing the winning, not Toyota. I don't see Michael Waltrip Racing or Red Bull Racing winning 8 races right now.

Answer 11

Your question is moot. NASCAR changed engine requirements for Toyota just this past week to throttle 15 HP out of the engine. I am not sure if it was to target Toyota or Kyle.

After the folly that was called a race today, I think NASCAR should think about new ownership itself. The teams should have been left to manage their own races today. WHat NASCAR did was a sad commentary for the "sport". I say, shut the whole thing down and save the fuel and rubber.