NASCAR has released the rules package for the 2020 Cup Series, among them a cap on adjustments to procedure regulations covering costs for teams.
These adjustments should not affect competition on the track itself; officials instead decided to limit wholesale changes for 2020.
More all-around modifications are expected in 2021, when the next generation of car will debut.
“The 2019 season has produced great racing and we anticipate the level of competition to continue to rise as teams build off this rules package in 2020,” John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president of innovation and racing development, said. “Collectively, we continue to work closely as an industry to put on the best racing possible for our fans, while working diligently on the Next Gen car, scheduled to make its debut in 2021.”
The regulations include several chassis-specific guidelines, among them limiting teams to 12 active chassis at any given time, something that had not been limited before, and there will be four inactive chassis allowed.
Additionally, each team will be limited to up to 10 unique designs for the chassis.
The teams will be restricted to 150 hours of wind-tunnel tests across four facilities, but manufacturers cannot test on current-generation cars.
At-track personnel numbers have also been limited, cutting the number of road crew members from 12 to 10 on race weekends.
The teams are mandated to compete in at least eight events each with long-block and short-block sealed engines, a change from three long-block and 13 short-block engines.
The extended parts freeze continues through 2020 as the series develops its new generation of car for 2021 and beyond.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.