Complaining about NASCAR's move to a single lug design is nuts

Tadd Haislop

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Complaining about NASCAR's move to a single lug design is nuts image

Change is the one constant in the NASCAR world, and it comes with the subset constant that is complaints about said change. Of course, pushback against change in general is human nature and far from unique to motorsports.

But fan reaction to the change NASCAR announced Monday was amusing considering the irony of the most common objections.

Those who oppose the Cup Series moving to a single, center-locking lug nut for its next generation car — as opposed to the current five-lug pattern — because such a design makes the car "less of a stock car" are missing the point. NASCAR literally is making this move so the car closer resembles a stock car.

Soon after NASCAR's announcement Monday, the NASCAR on Fox Twitter account posted a simple, open-ended question: "So what are your thoughts on the single-lug wheel?"

The (mostly) negative feedback was predictable. Below we pluck a few of those responses to the tweet and explain why they're misguided.

"How many "Stock" cars have a single nut? Really getting away from what NASCAR was created as." ... "Just another example of NASCAR doing the opposite of what fans want."

This is actually NASCAR attempting to do exactly what fans want.

NASCAR senior vice president of innovation and racing development John Probst explained Monday that the organization wants its Gen 7 Cup cars, scheduled to debut in 2021, to feature 18-inch aluminum wheels rather than the current 15-inch steel wheels. The reason: The larger style closer resembles the wheels on production cars.

And for the 18-inch aluminum wheel, the strength and durability of a single nut design was NASCAR's only option.

"Once you get to an 18-inch aluminum wheel," Probst said, "the next step for us is to make sure that from a durability standpoint under racing conditions is that it will accept the durability that we need to finish races and then also finish multiple races. ...

"The steel wheel is more forgiving and can handle loose wheels a little bit better. When we get to the aluminum wheel, we did some durability studies, and if you leave lug nuts loose on an aluminum wheel, you reduce the durability of the wheel by around 30 percent. It’s more of, the aluminum wheel has less tolerance to loose lug nuts, so when we have one, there really is only one thing to concentrate on, and that is to get that lug nut tight. Then everything else from a durability standpoint is fine."

That part — tire-changers needing to concentrate on just one lug rather than five — leads to the other prominent complaint attached to NASCAR's move.

"Seems it will take away employment for guys that have been on a pit crew for years." ... "Terrible, takes away the excitement of watching a pit stop!"

Simply, this is not true.

Many seem worried the change to a single lug nut will make NASCAR Cup Series pit stops look and feel more like those in Formula 1 and/or IndyCar, open-wheel series in which the choreography of a crew's work during a stop is much different and, as some argue, less challenging. Such an evolution won't happen as a result of this change in NASCAR.

"There will still be guys coming off the wall, there will still be a premium for that athlete to come off the wall, get to the right side of the car, make that tire change, get over to the left side of the car and make the tire change," Probst explained. "From the look and feel of the pit stop, we don’t see any significant changes.”

And no, there will not be a dramatic change in the time necessary to change a tire during a NASCAR Cup Series pit stop.

The single lugs require adequate torque, and the time on the air gun required to achieve that level of torque will be similar to the amount of time needed to attach five lugs to the current steel wheel.

"On the on and off, they still have to keep the gun on," Probst said. "They can’t just cap it, it’s got to actually ratchet a few times before it actually gets tight.

"So today, good tire changers can take five lug nuts off or put them on in less than a second, say eight tenths of a second to a second. They’re going to have to leave the gun on for probably at least a half a second, so if anything, they may be three-tenths (quicker) here and there, but it shouldn’t dramatically change the timing on the pit stop."

Tadd Haislop

Tadd Haislop is the Associate NFL Editor at SportingNews.com.