Nascar trucks subject to same tapered spacer as nns?

Question

it was announced yesterday that the same "differential" tapered spacer rule would be implemented in the truck series as in the nationwide series, assumedly because of dyno results on engines tested after the bristol race. so twice in one year, rule changes have been made based upon dyno tests on engines after races kyle busch won them...

from: http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/truck/09/03/truck.rule.amendment/index.html

"At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR."

the questions:

1) does anyone know if this rule affects only the toyotas in the truck series, or are any other teams using engines from other manufacturers - particularly chevy - that fit the criteria to have to use the stricter restrictor plate?

2) does anyone else find it interesting that although there were previous dyno tests in both series that did not bring about a rules change, such changes were made after testing engines at tracks where kyle busch won? or is that mere coincidence?

personally, i don't think there's any conspiracy as the plans for the tests had to be made before the race was even run, so the winner could not have been known. but i do find it interesting that no change has been deemed necessary in the truck series in the past, and toyotas have been competing in that series longer without the obvious domination there was in the nationwide series this year. heck, not only does jgr not field trucks, but ron hornaday won the championship last year racing in a chevrolet.

Answer 1

I think it does have alot to do with what bestanswer said... to keep the complaining down... I honestly think that if lets say dale jr won as many races in the same fashion as busch then nothing would be changed at all.... It has to do with toyota and the fact that they win with kyle busch, people don't want to admit that he is a great driver, nothing has ever been done since i have been watching NASCAR, with other drivers or teams when they dominate, i never saw gordon and hendrick's get anything done to them when he won 11 races in a season or when hendricks won most the races last year.... id almost bet that if its smoke winning all these races nothing would've been done either

Answer 2

The Toyota Nascar engine and the Chevrolet R07 engine have bore spacings of 4.5 inches. The Chevrolet SB2, Ford and Dodge engines are less than 4.47 inch bore spacing.

The Chevy R07 has not been approved to run in the truck series so the ,025 smaller spacers will only be used on Toyota trucks.

When the R07 is allowed it will run the same spacer as Toyota. When the new Dodge and Ford engines are approved they will also use the same smaller spacer.

The new engines mandated by nascar have a 4.5 inch bore spacing. The old engines based off of passenger car engines have closer bore spacings.

The rules are the same for everyone. Nascar just needs to get busy and approve all manufacturers engines for truck and Nationwide.

I doubt this has anything to do with dyno tests, it just makes the engine rules consistant in Nationwide and truck.

The new engines have a built in advantage, the smaller spacer makes them more in line with the older production based engines. Toyota never had a production based engine so they were allowed to run the new engine.

Answer 3

In my opinion, if NASCAR played favorites with Kyle Busch, like some people say, they wouldn't have done any of this. He's not the first driver to win a lot of races, he's just ran in the most and won the most this season. I think NASCAR is just trying to make the high percentage of complainers happy, but like Kyle Busch and other Toyota drivers have shown this season, they can win with or without a disadvantage, and that has to upset the people that dislike Toyota/Kyle Busch even more when they are able to win after everything NASCAR has leveled against them. That should show the talent at work.

I agree with Beth when she said it's probably not because of horsepower. The reason I say that is because if you hear that #51 truck in person it doesn't sound to fast. At least not when Shane Seig was in it at Nashville. The thing sounded horrible and he was off the pace so bad it was embarrassing to watch. That's when I realized the driver has quite a bit to do with things, at least in that truck. It would be hard for me to believe that it has extra horsepower.