All-Star race a good time to experiment

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR’s AllStar race has arrived, and so has the tinkering with the cars.

NASCAR is using the $1 million non-points race at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a research and development project in its seemingly endless quest for more competitive and exciting racing. The 2019 rules package was first experimented with in last year’s All-Star race.

The 19 cars in the field Saturday night will be equipped with a single-piece carbon fiber splitter/pan designed to create a more stable aero platform. A radiator duct through the hood is designed to reduce engine temperatures, and the goal is to create better racing and find a usable setup package for when NASCAR rolls out its Gen 7 car in 2021.

Defending race winner Kevin Harvick said the All-Star race at Charlotte is one of the best tracks for experimenting with new setups because all drivers are going as hard as they can for the first-place prize.

“It’s a race that we can try some things like that,” Harvick said. “I wish we would have had a little bit more on-track time with the parts and pieces that we have on the car and had a little bit more information on them.

“We had a lot of questions that got answered in practice.”

NASCAR used restrictor plates — the choking gadgets designed to limit horsepower — at the 2018 All-Star race to slow down the cars and create less pack racing.

The results were mixed.

There were 38 green-flag passes — a dramatic improvement from previous All-Star races — but the race still ended without the exciting finish NASCAR desired. Harvick dominated the final 10 laps, taking some of the luster out of the experiment.

Still, there was some hope NASCAR could build on the success of that package this year, but there have only been a couple of close races in the Cup Series, leaving the sport again searching for answers.

Whether the setup for Saturday night will work remains to be seen.