umm, what?
since you cant change the aero package anymore, whats there to engineer? Engineering phase is over as far as aero is concerned. The whole reasoning behind making an aero package that was as strict as it is now is teams were making some radical changes to the old package which made it very unfair aero wise, to the lesser teams.
Its more a drivers/crew race now than ever. All the cars are equal, meaning the only way to win is to be truly better than anyone else that day, not have the best corporate funding. The crew chief has to be on the same page as the driver and know what the driver needs when he says "tight on entry, loose in the middle and loose on exit". Not to mention setting up the car for the given track type and conditions, especially when conditions are prone to change (day race into evening, track tightens up). Set the car up too tight in the day when the night comes youll be chasing the car trying to work it out. Too loose, and you lose driveability till the sun goes down but the car wakes up and you save pit time not having to chase changes.
Then the driver has to know how to drive the car well even if the chief cannot setup the car to his liking. Some will overdrive a poorly setup car and lose time; some can overdrive it and get more out of it. Some find by driving within the cars means will net better results than trying to push it harder. Others will WBMC about it all night and blame Nascar and the CoT for their suckiness. Driver also has to communicate the cars issues properly.
Then theres pit strategy. Come in during the caution? grab two or four tires? Stay out, hope for another caution down the road? 25 laps to go with 20 on fuel and 10sec ahead of the next guy, do you come in and top off and hope to make up the losses in the next 25 laps, or stay out and go into conservation mode and hope for caution or that he doesnt make up that gap?
I love the fact its equal now. Its more about skill, everyone is on a level playing field.
Cookie cutter 1.5mi tracks? Most of the best racing is the short tracks like Bristol (especially under the lights!) or the road course tracks (Infineon for me, i go every year). Super Speedways are the backbone of Nascar, but the other tracks are where its at.
Cars from the 80's? a bunch of pos that can barely muster 180 and have to slam on the brakes and come down to 100 to make the bend? CoT is way way way more capable of a car than the cars of past, not to mention far safer.
Youre right, its not the same. its a sport that evolves. thats whats great about it IMO. Football has been the same since the 70's, only thing thats changed is the definition of the tv signal and the announcers (and players), other than that its still the same ball game with the same rules/regulations. You can watch a ball game from the 70's and its no different than watching one this weekend. Try that with Nascar, and its truly like stepping in a time-machine.
not any more so than you can buy a sprint cup racecar today, which you can if you have the right connections and the right pocketbooks, which was true even back when. Even in the 70's they were shells of the factory chassis out there on the track. Nascar was never "stock car" racing anyways, they were always modified to the fullest extent of their abilities per that time period.
psssch at Foush, you guys are 7 and 8th place right now.
loving my boy Smoke up there in 4th. Could care less really who the manufacturer is, I rooted for Smoke as a Yoda driver, and will root no matter if hes chevy, dodge, ford or hell, even Honduh (laff!)
Wish theyd put a road course track in the chase to shake things up a bit, Laguna Seca would be epic. Maybe a dirt track or something.
And no, no fucking racing in the rain, if i want to see drifting ill watch D1.
be safe, sleep with a firefighter 
1970
