[simple simon]

I will be interested to hear confirmation on this as i am not an expert on the rules ..... but it seems to me back in the day (50's-60's) you could basically drive what you brought to the track ..... maybe it wasnt exactly that loose .. but i dont think it was as strict as it is today

add to that the money involved (again i would love confirmation) ... i believe less then half of the drivers had quality rides and teams that could afford the best of everything

further i believe back in the day there may have been 5 +/- drivers had a real realistic chance to win each week

today i would say each week there are more then 15 drivers that have a chance to win each week

does it seem to anyone else that the Cup competition is getting tighter today ?

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by simple simon

today i would say each week there are more then 15 drivers that have a chance to win each week

Sounds about right, with the exception of restrictor plate races, where even a perpetual back-marker can be pushed into the winners spot.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by simple simon

I will be interested to hear confirmation on this as i am not an expert on the rules ..... but it seems to me back in the day (50's-60's) you could basically drive what you brought to the track ..... maybe it wasnt exactly that loose .. but i dont think it was as strict as it is today

add to that the money involved (again i would love confirmation) ... i believe less then half of the drivers had quality rides and teams that could afford the best of everything

further i believe back in the day there may have been 5 +/- drivers had a real realistic chance to win each week

today i would say each week there are more then 15 drivers that have a chance to win each week

does it seem to anyone else that the Cup competition is getting tighter today ?

Of course it's tighter. With the Playoff, plates, lucky dawgs, phantom debris cautions and spec car bodies, NA__AR has ensured that the events have a feeling of close competition.

[logano-fan]

The competition is also closer, because of the fact that there are less changes that the crew chiefs can make to the car to make it go faster.

Because the car's are more equal today, the competition is tighter than its ever been.

The reason nascar doesn't allow for more free for all, is because they want to keep the teams from spending alot of money.

[Souporscotty]

Originally Posted by simple simon

but it seems to me back in the day (50's-60's) you could basically drive what you brought to the track

I think that's why they called it "STOCK car racing"

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Souporscotty

I think that's why they called it "STOCK car racing"

Novel Concept... think it could work?

[BiscuitMan]

Is Cup Competition Tighter Today? Yes and its because of "parity" of the race teams.

Teams fielding race cars back in the day (50s-60s) varied wildly from one team to another. Today, NASCAR rules basically requires that all cars on the track are the same.

So, there is not much difference between Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 and Scott Riggs' No. 66. The "not so much" is what makes the big difference. Most of the time we see all 43 cars in the race on the same lap. It's just that few feet of separation between each car that makes the difference between the leader and the last place car.

To answer the question "Is Cup competition tighter today?" One may respond with "Is Cup competition more exciting today?" I say it is not.