As the motorsport world heads into a recession for engine displacement in favor of more eco-friendly alternatives, questions keep arising as to why NASCAR hasn’t souped up their V8s like some other series. Unfortunately for the firm believers in “there’s no replacement for displacement,” the president of the show believes the answer isn’t as simple as adding more horsepower. Because with more power come ever-increasing financial costs.

The modern 670 horsepower behemoths hauling down the track have gone cold with fans, and there is some outcry to Phelps’s comment that, “more horsepower is expensive.” But if there’s anyone who could help the NASCAR president make his case, it would be Tyler Reddick.

Is more power the ultimate solution?

Whilst chatting with the Door Bumper Clear podcast trio, the two-time Xfinity Series champion got into a lengthy debate on whether more horsepower is truly the answer. And if it isn’t, why hasn’t Steve Phelps tried any alternatives? Reacting to Phelps’s statement, veteran spotter Brett Griffin shared his stand, “I was told by an engine builder a while back […] that we run the most expensive 600 horsepower motor in the world, I don’t know if that’s accurate or not. But I was also told we were capable of running way more horsepower than we do.”

Tyler Reddick immediately chimed in to share his view on the proposition. The Cup Series driver felt the years in NASCAR when the cars were ever so powerful with maximum downforce created some breathtaking moments. However, the complexities of increasing power and trying to manage that car troubled Reddick more than the hosts.

He shared, “I mean, we’re still on the edge now [while racing], but like there are moments we have in the car with how sensitive this car is; from the naked eye, it’s really hard to see it. A lot of times when someone has a moment in the corner, you have to see the SMT data and Motek data in the post to see like, ‘Oh my God, I just about wrecked the guy.’ […] It’s hard to see it, ‘coz we’re having to think so far ahead with this car.”

Reddick reflected on the time when he asked his crew to turn up a dial on the sim which would increase the power by 150 horsepower. But the result? He shared: “Didn’t change much. I mean, we’re talking, the amount of off-throttle time was reduced very little.” To make a true difference, Reddick believed the number would have to be much higher, “I think you’d need to be above a thousand horsepower to like really move that needle and that is a very big jump. I mean small jumps can happen in the short term.”  

Siding with Phelps on the horsepower debate, Reddick believes the solution isn’t that simple. Especially if we consider adding more horsepower and getting rid of the shifting in favor of a single gear.

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Will a single gear and more power create a better machine?

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When one of the hosts asked Tyler Reddick if he felt adding horsepower and removing the shifting at a short track like Martinsville would make any difference, Reddick felt it would require more power than possible. He shared, “I mean, the amount of horsepower that we would have to have if they took shifting away, I mean, it would have to jump a bunch. Because, if we were locked into fourth gear, or third, for us to have the amount of power to spin the tires at 5000rpm if you’re locked into one gear, I mean the peak would have to be so much higher than it is now. To me that is the struggle right. We need more power, But, if we take away shifting we have even less power in the middle of a corner.

He reflected on the time at the Martinsville Speedway when he experienced enough fall-off in degradation to the point where staying in a single gear was faster. With tires running over a hundred laps, staying in a single gear with the newer tire compound would make things difficult without adequate power. He further elaborated, “If you just stayed in one gear, that many laps on tires with the new and softer tire we ran, you just punch it. And that was after a hundred and fifteen laps of downshifting, spinning the tires, and all that. I mean the amount of power would have to be very, very high.”

It’s safe to say if championship-winning drivers like Tyler Reddick believe the answer isn’t just additional horsepower, then perhaps the horsepower debate needs to be more nuanced.

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