Is The 4 Car Cheating?

4 has good balance of downforce and low drag over roof.
18 poor air flow around the 1, but the 8 in the rear flows good.
78 is terrible, that 7 actually lifts the front end.
3 is the worst aero-wise.
 
"Cheating" is hard to state in this business. EVERY competitive team is "bending the rules" as much as they can get by with. If not, there would never be someone faster than the next team with all of the rules Nascar has in place.
 
Saw something about them bringing an all new Jimmy John's scheme this week where the entire lower half of the car is black. Could be an OSS trick? NASCAR said they were going to start policing that but I guess they didn't this time.
 
Nope. OSS says, "No!".....except for that little window issue in Vegas. OSS is very sorry about that one.
 
Nope. OSS says, "No!".....except for that little window issue in Vegas. OSS is very sorry about that one.
OSS wont catch it if its not out of shape, like when a 200 mph wind goes over it.
 
Nope. OSS says, "No!".....except for that little window issue in Vegas. OSS is very sorry about that one.
I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a former championship winning crew chief. He said that they'd bring a car through inspection with 5 or 6 things illegal, a couple of them blatant. The inspector would catch the most blatant, and send them back with a stern warning. They'd "fix" that by removing it, and car would pass tech with inspector feeling like he caught them. Meanwhile, the real advantage they wanted past the inspectors was left intact. I'm beginning to wonder if the window thing by the 4 team was a red herring and they tricked several other teams into doing it too and getting nabbed. Meanwhile, I firmly believe (nothing concrete, just conversations and hunches) that the real advantages and engineering wizardry found by teams like the 78 last year and 4 this year lie in the underside of the car and suspension components.
 
I want to add that I'm in no way "connected" like say alenbaba or Spotter22. One of the perks of working in North Carolina is that you may get the occasional NASCAR celebrity patient. ;)
 
I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a former championship winning crew chief. He said that they'd bring a car through inspection with 5 or 6 things illegal, a couple of them blatant. The inspector would catch the most blatant, and send them back with a stern warning. They'd "fix" that by removing it, and car would pass tech with inspector feeling like he caught them. Meanwhile, the real advantage they wanted past the inspectors was left intact. I'm beginning to wonder if the window thing by the 4 team was a red herring and they tricked several other teams into doing it too and getting nabbed. Meanwhile, I firmly believe (nothing concrete, just conversations and hunches) that the real advantages and engineering wizardry found by teams like the 78 last year and 4 this year lie in the underside of the car and suspension components.
What you mentioned is true but with todays technology like the OSS its harder to play cat and mouse.
 
Last race, the 4 was on a Sunday drive, one hand at 200 plus and smooth and easy in the turns .... its a downright mystery how a car can be that good EVERY week
 
Last race, the 4 was on a Sunday drive, one hand at 200 plus and smooth and easy in the turns .... its a downright mystery how a car can be that good EVERY week
It isn't that good every week, he has only won 7 races the rest of the races he wasn't good enough. Kyle's was only that good 6 times so far.
 
Whatever they are doing its working.
 
This would have been typical Harvick for a full career if he would have had a better ride prior to SHR.
And SHR is stronger because of him.
 
are they cheating?? well it depends on if nascar figures out what they are doing and decides it is. IMO and I can't say this enough, they have something!!!!!!! there has been times when they have 3/4 of a second over the rest of the field. I get the feeling harvick at times is just minding the gap and not driving the car hard. They were't that fast in practice at michigan either. I wonder if they were sandbagging at practice too??? I don't think anyone thought the 4 car was the fastest before the race at michigan.

the other car that has something is the 78, we all know darn well who truex is as a driver. he didn't suddenly figure out how to drive a race car. That teams has had a very very special advantage that some how they have managed to keep intact for a long time. The 18 car, you expect them to be fast.

the interesting thing to me is that with all the talk of the big 3, why is it that none of their team mates are fast as well??? I mean they are not slow but how often are the other cars from gibbs or SHR contending for the win? Harvicks car at times has been so fast that if they simply just put any of the other drivers in the car that are on their team they should have also been able to have the field covered. Clint, kurt, even almirola should be capable of running an identical car within a few tenths of what harvick can. 3/4 of a second faster and they should be able to win in the same car as well.

the other fascinating thing to me is the big 3 are fast everywhere. the advantage they have seems to translate to nearly every track. I tell you one thing though I am down right sick of it. its just about to the point where I am going to tune out.

as a side note one thing I noticed was the amount of skew that has been taken out of the cars. watch the cars running straight down pit road on a downforce track. used to be the right rear was clearly skewed out. Now I saw almost the opposite with the 48 car, this weekend in fact the car almost looked like it was skewed left like they run them at daytona and talledega. The last couple years there has been alot of monkey business with the truck arms making it so they move to get the right side of the car and thus more rear spoiler and also more side force on the right side. probably something they are well of ahead of but it is something I wonder about if they are getting those truck arms to move some how.
 
This thread inspired me to study and find the empericals evidence for who won the most races with an infamous, unethical shameful, unsportsmanlike like, cheated up car. It just ain't right.
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The 4, 18, and 78 are the best in the business right now. The fact that Chevy as a whole is still kind of down on performance gives them a bigger advantage over the rivals that remain.
 
I forget which car it was (Mcmurray?) but their rear quarter panel folded back when air hit caught the leading edge. I think the teams are messing with the panels to deform at speed and return to spec at low speeds. The teams write the rule book with their innovations.

Smokey Yunick Rules! - that could be the title of the NASCAR rule book AND an honor to a famous innovator (or cheater depending on what side of the rules you are on).
 
Then why is the media so endeavored in pushing Trevor?

That whole team is way behind....they are in the exact same predicament as the 34 and 38. They all seem to run parallel. Can't believe that Roush allows his teams to run three and five year old chassis...what is with that????
 
Then why is the media so endeavored in pushing Trevor?

That whole team is way behind....they are in the exact same predicament as the 34 and 38. They all seem to run parallel. Can't believe that Roush allows his teams to run three and five year old chassis...what is with that????
Doesn't have the funds most likely.
 
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