Spoiler returning to NASCAR at Martinsville; Change made to all-star race

What had long been expected will indeed happen _ the spoiler will make its return to the Cup Series at Martinsville later this month, ending the short history of the rear wing in NASCAR.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR VP of competition, made the announcement Tuesday.

So, enjoy it folks, this weekend's race at Bristol will be the final Cup race with a rear wing on the car. It debuted at Bristol in 2007 and ends at Bristol three years later.

A few details: Pemberton said teams must buy the spoilers from a NASCAR-approved seller and then NASCAR will install them. The only time NASCAR will issue spoilers is at Daytona and Talladega. The spoiler will be 64.5 inches wide (at all tracks but Daytona and Talladega -- that still being worked out) and will be 4 inches tall. The angle will be mandated at 70 degrees. A reminder that NASCAR has a two-day test next week at Charotte Motor Speedway (March 23-24) for teams to test with the spoiler.

Here's what some drivers say about the spoiler and what kind of impact it might have.

"Bringing the spoiler back is right,'' Kevin Harvick said. "NASCAR racing is built with the spoiler. The cars just look right with the spoiler on there. NASCAR fans don't like wings and if you want to watch something with a wing, they watch Indy car racing. There's no reason the wing should have ever been on there in my opinion.''

Said Kyle Busch: "I feel like it's a change for the betterment of the sport to try to make these cars a little bit better. I'm looking foward to it. I definitely think that NASCAR wouldn't have done it if they didn't think it was for the better, so we'll see how it goes.''

Said Martin Truex Jr.: "My first reaction was, obviously, it looks better. Every car that I've run, except the last few years of my entire life, has had a spoiler on it, so I feel a little more comfortable with it. I'm a fan.''

Just because drivers like it now doesn't mean they will once the change is made. While the spoiler change at Martinsville is expected to have little or no impact on the racing, it will at bigger tracks on the schedule and could swing the balance of power in the sport. Consider what the spoiler change means:

"I don't think the spoiler is going to cause a huge changer other than the attitudes and heights of the splitter are going to need to be a little bit different,'' Harvick said. "The attitude of the car is going to need to be a little bit different and, obviously, when you change all that, your bump stop loads change, so you're going to need different springs, a small change to your spring and shocks and wedge and things like that. So, you're package is going to be tweaked around quite a bit from what you normally race. It's not going to be huge changes. The only unknown that everybody doesn't know is how the cars will 100 percent react in traffic. Based upon what I know from the wind tunnel and things, it seems like they're going to react much like all our other cars have always reacted with cars side by side are going to be a little loose on the bottom; cars real close to your bumper are going to make you loose.''

Said Truex: "It definitely opens another can of worms. It's going to be completley different. The cars are going to want different things. They're going to feel different to us, so, yes, it's going to take different things. I think you're going to have a few guys that jump in there and figure it out before the rest of the guys and kind of get out ahead of them just like some guys did when we had the COT. It's a matter of learning as much as we can as fast as we can.''

Said Busch: "With the rear wing we've just kind of fought getting these cars to turn. It seems like we overproduced downforce on the rear of the car and haven't had enough on the front of the car in order to make the cars turn through the corners to carry the speed that we need. We're also hoping the change produces better side-by-side racing just being able to run side by side and not have the car on the inner side of you or the outer side of you make you loose or make you tight when they get tigher to you. It's all about air and it's relative to how everybody else moves it around your car.''

Here's a list of the drivers who won the most times among the 92 races run (pending Bristol) with the rear wing.

1. Jimmie Johnson .... 21

2. Kyle Busch ........13

3. Carl Edwards ...11

4. Tony Stewart ..... 6

Denny Hamlin .......6

6. Mark Martin .......5

7. Jeff Gordon ..... 4

Kasey Kahne ...... 4

Kurt Busch .......... 4

10. Clint Bowyer . 2

Greg Biffle ........... 2

Jeff Burton .......... 2

Matt Kenseth ..... 2

Jamie McMurray . 2

15. Martin Truex Jr. . 1

Juan Pablo Montoya . 1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. . 1

Ryan Newman .... 1

Joey Logano ...... 1

David Reutimann . 1

Brian Vickers ...... 1

Brad Keselowski . 1

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Also on Tuesday, Sprint announced details for its all-star race on May 22 (the day before the Hall of Fame induction ceremony) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The change is that between the third and fourth (the final) segment, all teams must make a mandatory pit stop. That's new. Also, teams will start the final 10-lap dash with $1 million going to the race winner based on how they exit the pits. The point is to make pit work mean more.

Here's the breakdown for the All-Star race

Segment 1 (50 laps) -- Mandatory green-flag pit stop. Cars must pit after completing lap 25. Caution flag thrown at end of segment and teams may pit (but don't have to do so).

Segment 2 (20 laps) -- Caution flag thrown at end of segment and again teams may pit if they want to do so.

Segment 3 (20 laps) -- 10-minute break after the completion of this segment. Cars will return to the track and line up single file behind the pace car in order that they finished Segment 3. On second lap behind pace car all cars must make a four-tire pit stop. How they exit the pits is in what order they'll restart the final segment.

Segment 4 (10 laps) -- Only green flag laps count in this segment. Winner receives $1 million.

Earlier that night will be the Sprint Showdown, which is a 40-lap race, broken into segments of 20-laps each. Top two finishers advance to all-star race _ along with the fan vote winner. Fan vote opens March 24, about four weeks earlier in than in past years.

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ODDS AND ENDS

# Narain Karthikeyan of India is set to make his NASCAR debut on March 27 in the Camping World Truck race at Martinsville. He ran in Formula One in 2005 and then was a test driver in that series afterward.

# Martin Truex Jr.'s brother, Ryan, will run six Nationwide race this season. Ryan Truex turns 18 on Thursday, making him old enough to compete in NASCAR's top series. Truex is set to make his debut July 17 at Gateway Speedway for Michael Waltrip Racing. He's also scheduled to compete in Nationwide races later in the summer at Michigan, Richmond, Kansas, Charlotte and Homestead.

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