NASCAR takes the gloves off

CONCORD -- There could come the Sunday afternoon when the words careen through Robin Pemberton's head like the shriek of a sideways race car.

But this is the deal that NASCAR has struck in difficult times. And NASCAR's vice president of competition loosed the hounds with a single phrase Thursday as he announced a series of measures designed to give more freedom to Sprint Cup drivers and appease an increasingly fickle fan base:

"Boys, have at it, and have a good time."

Specifically, Pemberton was speaking about NASCAR's abolition of a rule prohibiting bump-drafting on restrictor-plate tracks, but it will come to embody the spirit of a renewed "back-to-basics" initiative in which drivers are encouraged to be themselves and police themselves up to an as-yet-defined or crossed line.

"This is a contact sport," NASCAR chairman Brian France said. "We asked ourselves, 'What can we do to open it up a little bit?' ... We're going to loosen it up."

Drivers, as was to be expected, like it. Denny Hamlin, who deputized himself in handling a dispute with Brad Keselowski last season, likes it a lot.

"It's always been a 'self-policing' garage, and it seemed like it kind of got tighter and tighter, that grip that they had on us," said Hamlin, who followed through on a vow to wreck Keselowski in the final Nationwide race of the season at Homestead-Miami. "I think it's good for the sport, obviously."

France never actually admitted that there was a problem with the product, but NASCAR's sophisticated system of gauging the collective mood of its fan base revealed a desire for change on certain issues. Double-file restarts and earlier, uniform 1 p.m. start times began as ideas from the same 12,000-member fan council, president Mike Helton said.

"The perception that we over-regulate in Daytona and Talladega comes from that [too]," he said.

The changes are:

Sprint Cup teams will sometime this season employ a spoiler to replace the wing used since the new model cars were introduced in 2007. The wing has been maligned by purists since its inception and was worth scrapping, managing director of competition John Darby said, if the spoiler could improve the quality of racing.

The often-controversial "yellow line" rule that defines a low racing boundary at the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega was kept after consultation with drivers.

Bump-drafting will be allowed all around the track, eliminating the so-called "no zones" that forced NASCAR to police aggressive tactics in the corners at Daytona and Talladega.

A restrictor plate with larger holes will be used beginning at the Daytona 500. The new plate - the biggest used since 1989, according to driver Jeff Gordon - will allow more air into the engine carburetor, generating more horsepower and, in theory, greater throttle response. That could help break up the long trains of drafting cars which have become the norm at Talladega and Daytona.