Technology has given NASCAR Cup Series drivers more information inside the cockpit than ever before. Ty Gibbs isn’t convinced all of it has made the racing better.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver wants NASCAR to consider taking away the digital rearview camera used in the Next Gen car, arguing that the technology has made it considerably easier for drivers to control the cars behind them.
And Gibbs didn’t exactly tiptoe around his opinion.
During an appearance on the “Dale Jr. Download,” Gibbs joked that removing the camera might expose just how dependent some Cup Series drivers have become on it.
“Honestly I think if you took the digital camera out of the car, it would be a mix of drivers that probably wouldn’t even be in the Cup Series anymore,” Gibbs said with a laugh. “I swear sometimes, if there was no digital cameras in here, some of these guys definitely would not be in Cup.”
It was a joke with a serious point behind it.
Ty Gibbs thinks removing the digital camera could improve racing
Unlike a traditional rearview mirror, NASCAR’s digital camera gives drivers a broad look at what’s happening behind their cars.
Gibbs compared the setup to something he encountered in a far less glamorous vehicle.
“We have the same mirror as like, a bus, like a transit bus. I was in a transit bus in L.A. and I was like, ‘Dude, I think that’s the same mirror I run in my Cup car.’ That was a fun fact. That was surprising.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggested going back to the type of mirrors drivers used during his Cup Series career. Gibbs was completely on board.
“I would 100% be for that,” Gibbs said.
His reasoning goes beyond nostalgia.
Gibbs believes reducing the information available to drivers could make it more difficult to block competitors based entirely on what they’re seeing behind them.
“I think it would — obviously we’d want to have a car that races a little better in dirty air, but for the time being, I think if you took those out, I think it would make the racing a little better because you couldn’t just sit there and look at your iPad and go up and screw somebody on their line.”
That gets to the heart of Gibbs’ argument.
Removing technology from a modern Cup car sounds like a step backward. In this case, however, Gibbs believes forcing drivers to rely more heavily on their own awareness could make passing and defending position more difficult.
And potentially make the racing better.
NASCAR drivers once had considerably less help behind the wheel
Gibbs also has firsthand experience racing without all the information normally available to him.
He recalled losing radio communication late in a road-course race several years ago and being forced to rely on himself and his mirror to understand what was happening around him.
“A couple years ago my radio broke with like 25 laps to go on a road course, and I just didn’t have any communication the whole time and thank goodness it went green until the end after we pitted,” Gibbs said. “I just spotted for myself in the mirror. I could see everything from the mirror.”
NASCAR isn’t about to strip every piece of modern technology from the Next Gen cockpit. But Gibbs’ comments raise an interesting question about how much information drivers should have at their disposal.
The digital camera unquestionably helps drivers see what’s happening around them. Gibbs’ contention is that it may help them too much, particularly when a driver can use that information to immediately react to a competitor attempting a pass.
For a driver competing at NASCAR’s highest level, Gibbs seems perfectly willing to make his own job harder if it creates better racing in the process.