Dr. Diandra: Next Gen tech vs. Martinsville

Martinsville Speedway is the platonic ideal of short-track racing.

We expect — we look forward to — banging, bumping and short tempers. Add in high-profile drivers yet to win a race and the result is likely to be accidents and spins.

Will the Next Gen car’s composites, brakes and suspension stand up to the task?

Last year’s two Martinsville races tied for the most cautions (15). The spring Martinsville race featured seven spins and five accidents, while the fall race had only one spin, but 11 accidents. The track’s closest competitors (Nashville, fall Darlington and fall Texas) each had 11 cautions.

Thirty-one cars spun or were involved in accidents at 2021 Martinsville races.

Saturday night’s race will be 400 laps instead of the traditional 500. We’ll have to scale down our expectations — and the numbers of cautions, but we still have three stages. Last spring, nine of the 13 spins/accidents came in the third stage.

Two Next Gen design changes could enhance the propensity for bumping and banging: Brakes and body.

Enlarging the wheels from 15 inches to 18 inches means more room for brakes. A driver can brake later going into a corner and thus go deeper into the corner. With more ability to dissipate heat, wearing out the brakes won’t be as much of a problem as in past Martinsville races.

“We have more braking power than we have grip,” Alex Bowman said.

“Before,” Dale Jarrett said on the NASCAR on NBC podcast, “if you took it in a little too deep, not only did you drive it further into the corner, you started wheel hopping.”

Driving the car further into the corner increases the the potential for contact.

“Not that I’m looking for wrecks,” Jarrett said. “Contact is what we look for and that’s why we love those short