New nose lip for 2007

NASCAR officials are telling crew chiefs that there will be a new nose-lip for all Nextel Cup cars in 2007, perhaps earlier, a new nose valence that would be similar to Trans-Am noses and truck noses – with a lower aerodynamic lip, designed to force teams to limit the wheel-travel of race cars. The new rule would come in response to the radical wheel-travel that teams are using this season to drop the nose of the car and increase speed by literally dragging the nose on the pavement. Wheel-travel is believed to be one reason for the rash of tire problems, with tires taking a fearsome beating. "I think it's a good rule, and they might do it next year," #01 crew chief Ryan Pemberton said. "But it will (make) obsolete all the hundreds of thousands of dollars of expensive special springs each team now has. I've spent more on springs in the past year than I have in my entire career. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of springs." Winston Salem Journal