Daytona 500 is last race for restrictor plates
There has been a string of goodbyes at Daytona International Speedway in recent years, from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick.
There is another one on tap Sunday: The Daytona 500 will be the final NASCAR race for restrictor plates, the horsepowersapping devices reduce speed and were intended to improve safety at the nation’s fastest tracks.
Don’t expect a big sendoff for the oft-maligned part, which has been in use since 1988. NASCAR is merely switching to tapered spacers at every track to keep speeds in check.
“No matter what you call it, you’re still restricting the air flow to the engine,” two-time Daytona 500 winner and 1988 NASCAR champion Bill Elliott said. “It’s just a different flavor, a different way of putting it.
“I guess it’s all about how you word things these days.”
Plate racing has drawn plenty of criticism over the years, mostly from drivers and team owners who prefer cars not be bunched together in two- and threewide packs at nearly 200 mph and where the slightest contact creates a chain reaction and often mangles a bunch of $300,000 cars. During this month’s Speedweeks, though, the package has created lessthan-ideal, single-file racing that has some wondering what the 61st running of “The Great American Race” will look like.
NASCAR implemented the use of restrictor plates at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway as a safety measure more than three decades ago. The hope was that slower cars would be less likely to go airborne following Bobby Allison’s crash at Talladega in May 1987. His car sailed into the catch-fence, spewing debris into the stands.
That same year, Elliott set qualifying records at both tracks, reaching 210.364 mph at Daytona and 212.809 at Talladega.
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Indy 500: NBC Sports announced that Mike Tirico will anchor the network’s inaugural Indianapolis 500 coverage on May 26, giving him his first glimpse at the largest single-day crowd to attend a sporting event anywhere in the world. The announcement comes exactly 100 days before the Memorial Day weekend race. It also represents a major shift.
ABC televised the previous 54 races, but this season NBC and NBC Sports Network became the exclusive broadcast partner of the IndyCar Series.