From the Finger Lakes of New York, NASCAR moves to the Irish Hills of Michigan this week.  The Cup and NNS cars will take to the two mile Michigan International Speedway on Saturday and Sunday.  But following another Monday race, we’ve got more answers for your questions.  If you don’t know what this post is, until further notice, we will be answering any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Richard:

Wouldn’t it save a lot of money for teams if the engines in all series (Sprint, Nationwide, CW Truck and ARCA) were the same motors with different restrictor plates.

I doubt it.  It would take a significant investment to develop an engine like that, and then teams in each series would have to do quite a bit of testing and R&D to tune the engines for maximum horsepower.  It wouldn’t really be that different then the system we have now. – T.C.

2. From Ric:

Since fans and other devices use electricity and more electricity means the alternator needs to work harder, which puts more drag on the engines. Do drivers turn off fans and/or other items to give them a little extra boost to pass someone?

I stand corrected.  From reader Joe: The alternator, battery and all the car’s electrical system are connected together (in parallel). Turning off blowers and such WOULD reduce the horsepower used by the alternator. However, as a (for example, I don’t know the capacity used) 50 amp alternator only requires 1.6 horsepower to run at full load (assuming 50% efficiency, very conservative), and it would still be powering the ignition and other systems, it would not aid the passing effort sufficiently to bother. – T.C.

3. From Tony:

I see Mike Bliss in the 09 on the Michigan entry list. Could this be right. Finch fires him on the Nationwide side but he still drives on the Cup side?

Entry blanks are generally filled out weeks in advance, so Bliss was probably on the entry form Phoenix submitted. Given the animosity on both sides, I wouldn’t expect Bliss back. – Journo

4. From Richard:

There seems to be some drivers that fans are intensely loyal to even if they are not currently producing results. I won’t mention any names but it seems like there are always 2-3 drivers in this situation. When does a sponsor finally reach a point where they demand results for money spent or do sponsors just not care if people win or not. Are some sponsors just happy for the exposure even if their driver is not winning?

Speaking generally these teams don’t sell sponsorships based on performance. You can’t guarantee performance, and therefore it is not a smart way to attract a sponsor. What a sponsor is concerned with is exposure. Obviously running well is a good way to get exposure, but there are a lot of ways to do that. In instances where you have a team that maybe isn’t competing for wins every week it is important to have a good marketing and media relations team. In all reality sponsors can’t really demand performance, they can be, and often times are angry when the team doesn’t perform, but it is very difficult to instantaneously improve performance. – Journo

5. From Denny:

We heard so much about testing for engine horsepower, last season, especially those Toyota’s from JGR used in Cup-Lite. We seem to hear little to nothing about tests this season, in either series.  I am sure NASCAR has to be testing some cars after each race.  Do they ever ask teams for engines and set them up on an engine dyno and get a true HP reading or is it just a rear wheel dyno HP-reading?

NASCAR doesn’t seem to be testing engines this season as much as they did in 2008.  They have still done it though.  And when it comes to the actual testing they have used both methods; engine dyno and wheel dyno. – T.C.

6. From Richard:

We see that merchandising is an important part of NASCAR. How important are the Diecast cars, hat and t-shirt, posters and other sales to teams and drivers as far as their income? When I buy an item what percent does the team, driver and NASCAR get?  I recall a while back that most drivers were trying to wrap up sponsor and team changes in October so that their merchandise would be produced overseas and ready for Daytona in February. Just how big and important are these sales in the overall profit picture for everyone?

Off the top of my head I can’t give you any specific percentages. Merchandise sales are certainly a perk, but you can’t live and die by them. If you’re Ganassi you’re probably not making much money off merchandise. If you’re Hendrick they’re probably a bigger piece of the pie. The same thing goes for drivers. If you’re Elliott Sadler, not so much. Dale Earnhardt Jr., it’s substantially more. Too this another one of those things that is negotiated and if your’re a better team or better driver, you’re likely getting a bigger percentage. Sorry I can’t give you specifics, but it varies. – Journo

7. From Mason:

In regards to your post about adding another road course, have you heard any more about NASCAR testing on the road course at Indy while the MotoGP race is in town at the end of August.  Maybe the road course at Indy would be more interesting for the bigger Cup cars than the flat oval?

Actually there have been discussions about having an exhibition race on the road course in the fall. Beyond that initial bit, I haven’t heard anymore. Don’t expect them to use that configuration for the Brickyard though. – Journo

8. From Richard:

Over the years we have seen improvements in safety on the track itself and in the car design but the pits and pit stops seem to have changed only minimally. We have crew members getting hit by flying lug nuts and jacks getting run over and shot out from under the rear wheels of cars. When are we going to see single center lug wheels and air jacks in the cars? Also, every car sold in the US since 2008 has to have a tire pressure monitoring system and yet NASCAR cars don’t have that. When are we going to see some safety changes in these areas?

Honestly, I couldn’t really give you answers to any of these things.  And while I do understand your points, I don’t really want pit stops to change.  I like how we do things now.  Injuries from flying lugnuts and problems with the jacks aren’t really that prevalent.  Series that have air jacks and center lug wheels have pit stop issues too.  I don’t necessarily know if we can say those things make pit stops safer.  – T.C.

9. From Jon:

Hey guys just a quick question about the road courses.  Has qualifying ever been anything but a hot lap on an empty track for road courses?  F1 and other series typically hold all qualifiers on the track for like a 60 min qual session, which gives a better indication of who is better in race traffic anyway.  I always thought road course qualifying would be fun if they did this because as is, it’s real boring.  Has any NASCAR series ever done this on a road course?

I don’t believe the Cup cars have ever qualified any different at road courses, but they do something a little like you mentioned for the Nationwide teams.  I don’t know if you noticed at The Glen, but qualifying for the NNS race was done in groups.  I think it was groups of five cars that were all on track at the same time.  Each session lasted a couple of minutes and allowed teams to get in about three laps. – T.C.

10. From George:

I love rain delays, gives me time to ponder the odd things I notice at the track.  I have noticed in pre race activities that DeLana Harivck is the only driver’s “significant other” (wife or girlfriend if not being politically correct) that wears a fire suit most of the time.  Does she have a position on the pit crew at RCR, or is she just looking “HOT” and helping her husbands sponsors?  Sorry you guys get to work another Monday at the track.  Being retired, at least I get to watch.

I think it’s just a preference for Delana. She used to do it during the races KHI competed in too (she is very active at KHI), but she hasn’t done it so much this season. – Journo

11. From Jennifer:

Is Steve Hmiel still with Earnhardt -Ganassi? He made the move away from DEI to Ganassi, but now that they’ve merged, did he stick around?

Absolutely. He is currently the Director of Competition at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. He and Tony Glover oversee competition there. – Journo

12. From Grover:

During the pre-race the past few weeks,I have noticed something cool on a few cars.  On the carb air intake cover plate (in between the windshield and the rear of the hood).  It seems a few of the teams have got creative.  I noticed on the 11 they have a little mini fedex truck, and on the 39 its an American flag on a pole.  Is this something relatively new?  In the past all I have ever noticed was a two hole piece of steel so they could take it off before starting engines. Any other teams out there have a little knickknack on the cover plate?  P.S. Keep up the good work, love the site!

I think it’s a fairly new thing.  The two that you mentioned are the ones I have noticed as well.  It’s just another way to be creative and help push sponsors.  Some teams though still just have the standard cover.  I will try and remember to look to see if other teams have something. – T.C.

13. From Blair:

I listen to the scanner every weekend on nascar.com. I know normally the inside is on the driver’s left hand side but is it the same on a road course? There’s a few second delay on the computer so by the time you actually hear it, the tv isn’t showing the racing. They are usually focused on certain people the entire time…

Some spotters will refer to it as “driver’s left” and “driver’s right.”  But others still use inside and outside, but where exactly that is depends on the orientation of the corner.  For example, in a left hander inside would mean driver’s left.  For a right hander, inside would mean driver’s right. - T.C.

14. From Ric:

Do over the wall people need to be on the inside when cars leave the stall? In other words could you service the car on the left side first, then the right side? I know they can’t drive over the air hose, but couldn’t someone lift it above the car? Or have the air hose come out on a pole over the car?

No, pit crew guys don’t have to be on the left side when the car leaves the stall.  If that was the case, two tire stops would take a lot longer.  So technically, yes a team could put lefts on first.  Although I don’t really know why they would.  The pit stops would be much slower that way. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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