Why NASCAR has to tell race teams they can’t use windshield wipers when it’s sunny
By Nick Tylwalk
If ever there was a superb example of the lengths NASCAR teams will go to in order to gain any possible advantage, this is it.
It’s often been said that football is a game of inches. If that’s the case, then NASCAR is a game of … well, whatever really tiny fractions of inches are called, because teams will take any measure necessary to gain what could be the edge that makes a difference on race day.
Never has that been more true than with windshield wipers. As any NASCAR fan who’s suffered through a rain delay knows, even a tiny amount of the wet stuff brings an immediate halt to races on ovals. Not so on road courses, where cars can run special rain tires and use windshield wipers to keep going in the rain.
However, it rarely rains on race weekends at Sonoma or Watkins Glen. Yet NASCAR teams have still been trotting out their cars with windshield wipers on them, as it’s within the rules to do so. And since they have those wipers on there, the crew chiefs and engineers might as well put them in the position where they might help the cars’ aerodynamics, right?
Of course they do. Jalopnik has an awesome picture gallery of the cars running at Sonoma earlier this season, and every single one has a wiper blade up and skewed to the passenger side, kind of like when you turn your car off before turning the wipers off. It’s fair to wonder whether any car has an advantage since they’re all doing it, but in this case, everyone is motivated by FOMO: If you aren’t doing it, you might be giving the edge to someone who does.
This fun is likely about to come to an end anyway. As NBC Sports reports, NASCAR is considering a rule change for the 2019 season with regard to windshield wipers. Namely, teams will only be able to put wipers on their cars if NASCAR says they can, which presumably will be if the forecast contains at least some chance of rain.
Next. Where NASCAR might use All-Star Race-like packages in 2019. dark
For what it’s worth, at the time of this article, Weather Channel was calling for a 20 percent chance of rain for both the XFINITY Series and Cup Series races at The Glen. No word on whether or not that’ll be enough to allow the wipers to stay in 2019, but it’s good they’ll have them available this time around. Just in case, you know? Wink, wink.