Uncapped oil tank adds downforce

HAMPTON, Ga. — Has it really gotten to this? Are NASCAR teams really resorting to tampering with oil-tank lids to find a downforce advantage?

Remember the good ol’ days when a car might be flagged for having a little something extra in the fuel? Good times. How about tricked-up carburetors and shocks, or mysterious substances that could be rubbed on tires to make them faster. Those were things fans could get their brains around.

But an oil-tank lid? Really, how can that help?

To better understand the circumstances surrounding the 100-point, $100,000 fine given to Roush Fenway Racing’s Office Depot entry with driver Carl Edwards, I wanted to try an experiment. However, after checking with my mechanic, I elected not to drive my Nissan Altima to the Atlanta Motor Speedway sans oil cap. He said my car really wouldn’t appreciate it.

He did offer me some leftover Toyota Racing jet fuel from the 2007 Daytona 500, which I politely declined. It didn’t help Michael Waltrip muchl and I didn’t want it to slow me down on the I-75 raceway.

Anyway, this called for more in-depth research. I discovered the Sprint Cup cars have a separate tank inside the driver compartment behind the driver, a tank that houses oil that can get as hot as 300 degrees (this technical stuff is enlightening).

OK, now I knew where the violation occurred, but I still didn’t know how it helped Edwards win at Las Vegas, especially after hearing the removal of said cap releases possible dangerous fumes into the driver compartment. So I went to a professional to get the facts.

“It’s kind of confusing because most people don’t know what it is,” Roush Fenway driver Greg Biffle explained. “People are talking that it helped the engine, but it has nothing to do with the engine. It’s all about downforce and air.”

Now my head was hurting. The confusion was getting deeper (or the fumes from my own capless drive were starting to take effect). I pressed Biffle for a simpler explanation.

“Air comes through the driver compartment and usually goes out the window, but with the oil cap off, some of that air escapes through the tank,” he said. “There’s a high-pressure area underneath the car, and it allows the air to go out underneath the car. This would make the car be lower to the race track and increase downforce, though probably not a measurable amount.”

Obviously, though, measurable enough for the NASCAR police to knock Edwards from first to seventh in points. More importantly, he lost the 10 bonus points he would have gained to start the Chase, plus crew chief Bob Osborne to a six-week suspension. All this, as team owner Jack Roush said Friday, because a single bolt failed to work properly.

If this indeed was an accident, as Roush and Edwards insisted Friday, why such a strong penalty? It seems, accident or not, the oil-tank area is the latest target for teams and their never-ending search for an edge. Several Nationwide Series teams at Daytona were penalized for loose oil tank lids after qualifying, raising the red flag.

Toyota Racing’s Lee White even admitted in a USA Today article that several Toyota teams have tested cars with either loose or missing oil-tank lids and that the downforce gain is fairly significant. (An aside here: Why admit you’re testing illegal parts? You can always tell who the new guys on the block are, huh?)

Had Roush also been testing the illegal configuration, as White suggested? Now that I think about it, the accusation makes sense. Maybe the exposure to fumes explains Edwards going all Gary Busey-like on teammate Matt Kenseth last year. It could explain Jamie McMurray’s hair or Biffle’s ever-bulging eyes.

Roush Fenway’s David Ragan said during January’s Media Tour that there are parts of the race shop he can’t even get into. Thought he was kidding. Hmm.

If nothing else comes of this, it at least has stirred up things again between Roush and his personal white whale, Toyota. Roush called White “an ankle-biting chihuahua” during a news conference Friday and suggested NASCAR investigate Toyota’s testing habits. Edwards parted with his own shot.

“We were extremely fast at Las Vegas, and if I hadn’t won, Matt Kenseth was in position to win, as was Greg Biffle,” Edwards said after previewing his latest Aflac commercial (sorry, no Gary Busey). “The bottom line is, if the Toyota guys or anybody else wants to hire a flagman and go race 400 laps at Vegas, I’ll be glad to.”

Oil caps would be optional, we guess.