Can Chevrolet’s new car stop Toyota?
A new Chevrolet has raised hopes that Toyota’s ‘F1-style’ domination of NASCAR can be halted in 2018
Back-to-back manufacturer titles, accusations of an unlimited budget, and what was described as ‘Formula 1 domination’ – Toyota took a decisive stranglehold on the NASCAR Cup series in 2017 as it ruffled feathers on and off the track. Having committed to a new Camry for road-car production in the US for 2018, Toyota surprised its NASCAR rivals by bringing a racing version to the series in ’17 after a year in which Chevrolet and Ford had slowly crept up to its benchmark pace. It looked like that pattern could continue, with a low-key start to ‘17 for Toyota, which won just twice in the first 11 races.
But by the end of the 2017 season it was in a league of its own. The final-four showdown at Homestead was a straight fight between two Toyota stars: Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch in his Joe Gibbs Racing Camry. In truth, Ford’s Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski were there to make up the numbers, hoping for a stroke of luck that never came. Keselowski was the one to compare Toyota to
F1, and Busch’s Ford-driving older brother Kurt told Autosport that Toyota “played possum” until the Coca-cola 600 at Charlotte in May. There’s some merit to Busch Sr’s words: Toyota won 14 of the final 25 races, with eight victories coming in the 10 playoff races.
But as to why it dominated, that’s a harder question – beyond the fact that it outspends Chevrolet and Ford. Many suspect that it had an inherent aerodynamic advantage – which, in the current NASCAR rulebook of progressively reduced aero dependence, is essential. “I would attribute our performance to be a function of a number of different things,” says Toyota’s American racing boss David Wilson. “It’s not just the new Camry, and that’s the beauty of this sport.
“While we’d love to pat ourselves on the back and put all of the credit on this new Camry, that’s just not the case. It’s strong team organisations and partnerships that we developed last year. With a three-way partnership between Joe Gibbs Racing, Furniture Row Racing and BK Racing, it is very powerful.
I think that really played into our performance in 2017.”
It was certainly an element. While BK Racing was unlikely to star in 2017 amid ongoing legal problems, JGR’S slow start to the season skewed the numbers. It took until July at Pocono for Kyle Busch to win a race and join Truex up front.
NASCAR will be hoping that a similarly weak start can be punished in 2018, and it might have its answer in Chevrolet. It will bring a new model based on the Camaro ZR1 to the series, and has been testing the car with Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott in recent months. Chevrolet’s engine excellence has never been in doubt, but it lacked the overall package to compete with Toyota, particularly at the mile-and-a-half ovals.
With NASCAR manufacturers working in a largely transparent environment, Chevrolet stresses it can study Toyota to beat it at its own game. “I think we learn lessons every time one of the other OEMS enters a car,” says Chevrolet NASCAR group manager Pat Suhy. “When we had our car in 2013, that project was truly a collaboration between NASCAR and the three OEMS – we were together creating the submission rules, the aero, submission targets, the geometric look the cars had to fit in, and things like that.
“We didn’t have a chance to understand them, and I’ll say design our way around some of them. As we watched our competitors bring out one or two new vehicles between then and now, we certainly saw trends in how they approached that, we made note of it.”
Having prioritised improving its downforce, particularly at the rear of the car in comparison to Toyota, Chevrolet and Elliott believe they’ve made up ground. “I don’t think we were completely out to lunch in any area,” says Elliott. “I think it’s just a little bit here and there. Whether it’s a little bit of body or a little bit of drag-to-downforce numbers and that ratio, who knows what you’re up against?”
There’s also an off-track evolution that drivers are hoping will level the playing field - an updated inspection system. NASCAR has gradually moved away from relying on the human eye, and its refined Hawkeye system will use 17 cameras to detect illegality in just 90 seconds. “There’s a rule that says cars have to look right but they weren’t inspected regularly, so you could be quite creative with how you manipulate the design of a surface,” explains Suhy. “Knowing that there’s a new inspection process, some of the things we probably would have done if it was strictly the [old] grid-template system, we knew were directionally incorrect.”
With tighter rules and a new car to rival it, Toyota has already admitted the 2018 season could be its biggest challenge yet. Daytona this weekend will be the first showcase, and by the next race in Atlanta we should have a definitive answer.