If you know anything about me, you know that I love restrictor plates and Talladega. They go hand in hand, but not for long...

In the past Talladega has been a restrictor plate track. The track is over 2 1/2 miles long so it's smart to have restrictor plates. What the restrictor plate does is reduce the amount of gas and air flow to the engine. Basically it acts as a filter. The gas and air have to go through the four small holes in the restrictor plate before it can go into the larger holes in the carburetor. This reduces the horsepower of the engine. Think about when you breathe. You can get a lot more air in your lungs by breathing through your mouth (large hole) than through your nostrils (smaller holes). The restrictor plate is like your nostrils.

If the cars didn't have a restrictor plate at this track they could easily go 220mph. Bill Elliott went 212mph at Talladega back in 1987. With all of the technological advances it wouldn't be a challenge at all to get to the 220's.

What's wrong with going that fast? Two things; safety and entertainment. Number one is safety. We saw these drivers get in wrecks going around 190 last week. The faster they get the more dangerous the wrecks are. A 20 mph difference could go from a wreck that knocks the wind out of a driver to multiple concussions per season. As for entertainment, we want the cars to be able to stick together and fight it out with each other. At tracks like Charlotte the drivers get so spaced out and there isn't that much competition between them. Instead of fighting it out for the lead the leader is able to get a 2 or 3 second lead on the rest of the cars. This results in a boring race that looks more like qualifying laps.

NASCAR will be taking out the restrictor plates and put in a tapered spacer. What the hell is a tapered spacer? It's this thing. (see picture to the left) Basically it's a thicker restrictor plate but the holes are tapered into a funnel shape. This will have basically the same effect as the restrictor plate as far as its effect on speed, but it will have a better throttle response and the air flow will be more efficient.

After replacing he restrictor plate with a tapered spacer the horsepower will go from 410 to 550. Now that doesn't mean that were going to have race cars on steroids. Because of several new rules with aerodynamics going into effect, that will offset the extra speed going into these cars.

To sum it up the drivers will get more horsepower, same speeds, and more of a throttle response. The throttle response is basically the ability to hit the gas and be able to take off. Right now it's hard for drivers to pass each other because they don't have a good throttle response. They rely mostly on drafting to be able to pass other cars.

What do I think about it? I am excited to see this change at Talladega. Although I am a big fan of restrictor plates I think it will be a good thing for the sport. It's hard to say whet the races will look like from now on but I have high hopes for it. In my personal opinion I think that replacing the restrictor plate with a tapered spacer will only help to improve the sport and result in more NASCAR fans.

What do you think? Comment below!

XOXO @hellsbelle 🖤