RacingNation.com
Home / Columns / Close Calls / EFI Issues Giving Drivers, NASCAR Gas

EFI Issues Giving Drivers, NASCAR Gas

First NASCAR, now the racing gods have come down on Brad Keselowski.

Keselowski saw a top run in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway lose power when his electronic fuel injection system sputtered late in the race. That dropped the Penske Racing driver – who had solidly been in the top-10 most of the day – to 32nd in the final race rundown.

Keselowski has been having ‘gas pains’ since testing started on the new EFI set up last season. Ever since the system was introduced, he’s been vocal about it.

“It gives them (NASCAR) something to promote,” Keselowski stated last fall. “We’re always looking for something to promote, but the honest answer is it does nothing for the sport except cost the team owners money,”

Needless to say, NASCAR wasn’t too thrilled with Keselowski’s negative comments and reportedly requested a $25,000 apology.

Subsequently, Keselowski wasn’t talking much after Sunday’s disappointment. No “Tweets” from the Twitter king, who is so dialed into the social networking craze that he whipped out his phone during the red flag at Daytona.

In fact, nobody at Penske was talking Sunday as electronic fuel injection system problems also bit Keselowski’s teammate – A.J. Allmendinger.

‘The Dinger’ had fuel pressure problems midway through the race at Vegas and spent time in the garage area where they switched out the fuel injection system. He then returned to the fray and soldiered to a 37th-place finish, 29 laps off the pace.

The Penske cars haven’t been alone in experiencing trouble with the EFI as Sunday’s winner Tony Stewart had problems with new system at last week’s race at Phoenix.

That said, is there a problem with the system?

Yes.

And No.

First, Keselowski is right in saying the new EFI system NASCAR is trying to adapt is actually an old one that utilizes a throttle body, not the newer electronic driven examples in use for quite some time in modern passenger cars.

Or as Keselowski put it when he was fined last fall – “We’ve managed to go from 50-year-old technology (carburetors) to 35-year-old technology.”

Why NASCAR didn’t opt for the most modern technology is not a question to be answered here. Only they can answer that.

One thing is for sure – they ain’t gonna change it.

In that regard, there isn’t a problem. It is what we have and with anything new, there are going to be issues.

NASCAR may not always do the right thing, but you have to give them credit – if they decide something, they work like hell to make it work. The mindset here is how do we fix it?

You can be sure after the first hiccup, they’ve been looking for ways to iron out the issues on the new EFI system. With help from the teams and the drivers, NASCAR will find a way to make the system more bulletproof.

If they don’t, they’ll change it.

Still, that probably doesn’t make the sting of Sunday’s double knuckle any less at Penske Racing today.

Bristol

It’s about time NASCAR puts it’s short-track racing boots on and I can’t think of a better place than Bristol.

This year’s spring event at ‘Thunder Valley’ will feature a NASCAR K&N Pro Series event in addition to the regular Nationwide/Cup Saturday-Sunday twinbill.

The weather is supposed to be warm – 70’s – so no March mountain snowstorms are expected.

Woo Hoo!

It’s also St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so everyone will be ‘Irish’ and do their best to celebrate.

And, of course, it’s Bristol.

This race – the 1986 Valleydale Meats 500 at the then Bristol International Raceway – was the first NASCAR event I ever worked.

Man, 26 years, 27 seasons. That’s a lot of laps since then – especially at Bristol where Miss Gail and I have witnessed more than 40 different NASCAR events.

If you love short-track racing, you love Bristol.

The fun begins Friday

Share Button