Turn 2

If you'll recall, one of the main reasons NASCAR gave for the design of the then-new Car of Tomorrow was that it would insure uniformity among the teams' cars. That's why they created the Claw, that giant template that fits over the body to measure tolerances and make sure each car was the same. You may also remember the claims that teams would need fewer cars, because they'd all be the same, whether intended for a superspeedway or a short track.

Never count out Cup-level crew chiefs, though. For years, they've been pushing the rules, working in the so-called grey area that rules don't quite cover. They have a lot of experience in this area, and despite NASCAR's insistence that the COT design has no grey areas, they've found 'em anyway.

The most obvious is in the way the car sits on the track. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Gordon, who has now taken on the role Dale Earnhardt used to have as the Spokesman of the Garage, noted that teams are setting up their cars so skewed that they won't easily roll onto the scales for weighing, because the wheels are no longer parallel. He pointed the finger at the #99 of Roush Fenway as a prime offender.

This is a throwback to the Car of Yesterday, which was built on what Jeff MacGregor, who wrote the excellent book "Sunday Money," called "comic-book geometry." In an effort to build a car that handles better heading into turns, shops are turning out racecars with the rear-end housing so out-of-kilter that they can barely get into their track garage stalls; the rear end is kicked out so far to the right that, when the wheels are straight, the end almost hangs too far out to get inside the garage's door frame.

They're calling it "crabbing," and it is obvious enough for anyone to spot, even on TV. The camera that shoots straight down pit road provides an excellent view of cars driving straight ahead but with a body that looks like it is in the middle of a turn. Notable among these is Sam Hornish's #77, but others are as bad.

Gordon said the set-up was of little real help, because it makes the car harder to control, but apparently, other drivers disagree.

This has been going on all season, but last weekend Sprint Cup series director John Darby said NASCAR would be instructuing teams to "clean up" their cars. Of course, absent a specific rule, that term is nebulous enough that it may have little effect. Darby made things more confusing by admitting that "they need some of that, but there are some of them that have pushed it."

When the rules allow for a grey area, someone's going to take advantage of it. Carl Edwards seemingly enjoys his car's set-up and has used it to good advantage. (Of course, you can also get more downforce without an oil reservoir cover....) Gordon says the car is less stable this way, but when you're not doing well (okay, he's in the top 12 now, but wasn't until Darlington), it sounds like sour grapes if you criticize another team for doing something that's not illegal, just different, especially when you find out that Hendrick Motorsports also tried it.

Darby has yet to explain what specifically wrong with this set-up. "It looks goofy" isn't enough, although some fans--and Kyle Busch, who said Edwards' car "looks stupid"-- seem to think that's a good rationale. And since the rules don't prohibit it, maybe NASCAR ought to think twice. "They [complain] when we've got too many rules and then they want us to create more," Darby said, responding to the drivers' protests.

He's right. So leave it alone.

NOTE: Despite that well-reasoned comment by Darby, NASCAR now says it will, indeed be enforcing a new rule to limit yaw as of the Dover race.