CHARLOTTE (AP) — Five days after three-time champion Tony Stewart railed against NASCAR`s lack of policy on wheel nuts and accused the sanctions agency of being lax on safety, NASCAR sent a memo to team bosses Monday afternoon and changed the rule. Tony Stewart criticizes NASCAR for wheel nut rule, according to at-risk drivers Will the speed of a pit stop depend on how much fuel you put into the car alone? That could be the case. But NASCAR is already working on various options to solve this problem. The appearance of a single flap wheel will be a departure from the series, but other changes will be smaller. Probst said competition officials don`t expect drastic changes in the conduct of pit stops, the five-person limit for crew members crossing the wall, or team rosters in general. Due to higher torque, the pit gun is applied to a single wheel nut longer than five, but still takes less time. NASCAR estimates that it will take about 0.5 seconds to remove the single tab (and the same time to reattach it) compared to the 0.8-1.0 seconds for a high-end tire changer that removes five wheel nuts (and puts the pattern back in the same amount of time). For example, the movement could keep pit stops with four tires constantly in the 10-second range. Harrison: To have this race beyond a few hours, where most of the teams live, is a slap in the face. It`s a long season in February and November, and it`s a safe bet that the crew`s families aren`t thrilled with an entire weekend compared to the two weeks they had earlier when Charlotte hosted the All-Star and Coca-Cola 600 race in a row.

It`s also not a good balance of costs for teams hoping to race. You can walk to Texas Motor Speedway to run a short sprint and then head home. What`s the point? Although this race covered 1.5 miles, you have a lot of options nearby – North Wilkesboro? NASCAR drove The Clash on a similar track at Bowman Gray Stadium, why not there? Or, for the sake of madness, the Charlotte Dirt Track? NASCAR will launch its next-generation car in 2022. One of the most controversial issues of the new car is the use of a single wheel nut. Controversial you say? Of course, that doesn`t mean I understand why. NASCAR`s policy, since it switched to a pit lane video application system last year and fired many of its officials who had previously monitored whether wheel nuts were on the wheel, has been to allow individual teams to call the number of wheel nuts attached. Another subtle change is expected to affect the teams` pre-race routines. Crew members often glue several wheel nuts in advance for their tire set allocation, which speeds up their placement when changing tires. The single-legged system should eliminate this task on race day in the upcoming season`s Cup Series. Gluck: NASCAR shoots itself in the foot with Tony Stewart`s penalty “The answer became pretty clear: We had to make a single wheel nut,” Probst said.

And I know a lot of people might say, “Well, if product relevance is your primary focus, name me a car that has a single wheel nut.” I`m not sitting here saying I could, but I can name many cars that have 18-inch aluminum wheels. And when we decided that the 18-inch aluminum wheels were the main engine, the technical solution was pretty clear. NASCAR officials announced Monday that the next-generation car for the 2021 Cup Series will have a single center-locking wheel nut for its wheels. –The single wheel nut will be used for the first time on Mondays and Tuesdays during the NextGen test at Auto Club Speedway (with William Byron). However, the test does not simulate pit stops in race conditions. For years, NASCAR has used five wheel nuts on the wheels of a race car. At the end of the 2020 season, that should change. NASCAR plans to switch to a single wheel nut to secure tires during pit stops. The new procedure is expected to begin at the beginning of the 2021 season. Now that Stewart appears to be a catalyst for change, NASCAR has revised its policy. Amy Henderson: The single wheel nut isn`t NASCAR`s biggest problem.

It`s harder to get there properly (many lost wheels attest to this), but overall, it`s not as big as the wheel pack in general. A low-profile tire looks great on your streetcar, but it doesn`t turn out to be a good racing tire, especially when paired with the independent suspension of the Cup cars. The wheel-tire assembly needs a second look. Mike Neff: The switch to a single wheel nut is not necessarily a failure, even if it is very hostile to production. We all know that the car is out of stock, even though much of this new car is closer to stock than it has been in years. It needs to be refined, especially with loose wheel penalties, but it will improve. Let us wait a little longer before passing judgment. “The steel wheel is more forgiving and can handle loose wheels a little better,” Probst said.

“When we get to the aluminum wheel, we`ve done durability studies, and if you leave the wheel nuts loose on an aluminum wheel, you reduce the durability of the wheel by about 30%. It`s more than, the aluminum wheel has less tolerance to loose wheel nuts, so if we have one, there`s really only one thing we can focus on, and that is getting that firm wheel nut. Then everything else is fine from a sustainability point of view. There has also been speculation about how such a move could affect the value of tire changers. Harrison: You have to look at Ty Majeski. Sometimes the lack of sitting time can put a driver in a difficult situation from which he has to get out, but that was not the case here.