Cup stars optimistic about horsepower bump, eager to see its return

The idea of added horsepower at select NASCAR Cup Series races this season was met with what could best be described as a cautiously optimistic attitude from the garage.

“Definitely,” Christopher Bell said Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I was one of those people, too.”

Bowman Gray Stadium, the preseason exhibition race, was the first event where the cars were bumped from 670 horsepower to 750. But it was hard to get a sense of its impact given variables like extreme weather conditions (freezing), the tires (wet weather), and the fact that it was a quarter-mile track (not enough time for much full-throttle down the straightaways).

Circuit of the Americas was the first road course race where the added horsepower was used, and Phoenix Raceway was the first oval points race. It was noticeable at Phoenix, both through the eye test of the type of racing it helped produce, and the feel for the drivers behind the wheel.

“I’m surprised by it because I would have thought Phoenix was one of the racetracks that it really wasn’t going to tell a difference,” Bell said. “I can promise you that if we’re feeling it at Phoenix, just wait until we get to Martinsville and Richmond and on top of that, Darlington. But Darlington is going to be a much greater change because of the car package we’re taking there (short-track aero package with added horsepower). We’re getting more horsepower and less car potential.

“I think it’ll be a massive difference at Darlington and then what we’ve already found out at Phoenix. I love where we’re headed. I always think we could use more horsepower and I would love to get more, and hopefully, this is an indication that we’re turning the right knob. I think the sky’s the limit. If we continue to add horsepower, I think we’re going to get right to where we need to be.”

Bell went as far as to say he had a ton of fun at Phoenix, something that might not have seemed likely a week ago, when he was disappointed with a second-place finish after being the most dominant car. But to Bell, the race was a night and day difference from anything the Cup Series has experienced before with the Next Gen car at the same track.

“It’s been really hard to pass, and this race was the first race that I felt like you could actually make your way through the field if you had a better car,” Bell said. “I proved that. Ryan Blaney proved that. It seemed like if you had a better car, you were able to pass, and I think a lot of that was due to the horsepower.

“And the added horsepower made the track feel slick, the tires degraded, we were sliding around, and the best cars made their way to the front. I think Darlington is going to be more of the same.”

Sunday’s race in Las Vegas will not have the added horsepower. Darlington Raceway is next on the list, a week after Las Vegas. In fact, Darlington will kick off a three-race stretch in which drivers will compete with the horsepower increase, with Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway to follow.

“I would agree with some of the other sentiments: pleasantly surprised by the horsepower change and how the cars drove differently,” Brad Keselowski said. “I think Phoenix is probably a small sample size. Richmond, Martinsville, you’re going to really notice a difference there from what I can tell.”

It will be a difference maker at those tracks, Keselowski believes. And when told of Bell’s eagerness to see what it does, Keselowski responded, “Me too. Me too.”

The added horsepower will be used in the other three road-course races still to come this season. There are eight more oval races that will see it used (after Darlington, Martinsville, Bristol). The oval races are tracks that are less than 1.5 miles in length.

“It’s noticeable,” Joey Logano said. “It’s not huge and obviously, we’re always going to want more. Every race car driver is going to say, ‘I want more horsepower.’ I don’t know if there is anybody in the world who has said, ‘I have too much horsepower.’ If you did, you probably have to take a look internally. There is never enough.

“So, I would say it’s directionally right.”