NASCAR gets it right with 2016 rules package

Although it took some time to get to this point -- and included a couple of noticeable missteps in the form of a pair of races that can best be described as duds -- NASCAR delivered some welcome news in unveiling its 2016 rules package Wednesday.

The wildly popular low-downforce package is to be used in 32 of 36 races next season, with the only exception being restrictor-plate events at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

While it might be hyperbole to call the announcement a godsend, the reality is any decision otherwise would have been against the betterment of the sport and deemed a colossal failure that undermined the very foundation of what stock car racing is supposed to represent at its highest level. Cars are supposed to be difficult to drive and those who can wheel a sliding, near out-of-control vehicle the best should deservedly excel.

That is the exact kind of racing that unfolded when NASCAR gave the low downforce a trial run in July at Kentucky Speedway and in September at Darlington Raceway. Drivers struggled with a lack of grip, needed to de-accelerate when corning and the result saw a considerable increase in passing and side-by-side racing. The configuration, featuring a rear spoiler reduced to 3.5-inches from 6-inches among other changes, produced a Kentucky track-record 22 green-flag passes for the lead and more than doubled the amount of green-flag passes throughout the field.

Initially, there was pushback by executives, most notably NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France, who preferred a high-drag package that, in theory, was supposed to stimulate pack racing on intermediate tracks, of which the bulk of the Sprint Cup schedule is made up. Except when that package produced a pair of processional races where passing was largely absent, the tide turned even more so toward the low downforce rules package.

Rarely do drivers agree on much of anything, yet when it came to the direction NASCAR should go with its rules package, almost universally they lobbied officials to employ the low downforce aerodynamic package configuration as its base.

Adamant in their belief, drivers lobbied officials publicly and privately, and when Kentucky and Darlington provided substantial evidence to support their claims, NASCAR was left with little choice but to scrap the high-drag package and embrace its low-downforce counterpart.

If there’s any downside to Wednesday’s announcement, it’s that the lower downforce package won’t be integrated until 2016 and the remainder of this season -- save for the Oct. 25 race at Talladega -- will continue to run a package that continually generated lethargic races devoid much in the way of on-track excitement and has caused a virtual revolt among NASCAR’s fan base.

But hope is coming next year by way of a rules package that justifiably is better than any NASCAR has seen in some time. And with it is the expectation the term “dirty air” will become a thing of the past, replaced by a package that allows a driver’s talent to shine.

You know, how NASCAR is supposed to be.