Watch the video as Martin Truex Jr’s car from 2017 throws unique sparks in every corner
In 2017, Martin Truex Jr rocked the NASCAR Cup Series while racing for Furniture Row Racing. He picked up 8 race wins en route to his first of two Cup Series championships.
A video has surfaced from that season. It shows the No. 78 car throwing unique sparks when the car drops down into the corners.
That video caught the attention of Martin Truex Jr’s crew chief from that season. And, he dropped a little note with it.
Corey Pearn confirmed with a simple, “Ti Skirt.”
Corey LaJoie responded, “That’s badass. Let’s hear the rest. I believe you’re past the statute of limitations.”
Watch the video below.
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Why use a Ti side skirt?
First off, Titanium is far more expensive than steel or aluminum. But, it comes with many benefits.
Ti is light and strong. However, in this case, being light likely wasn’t the benefit that the team was really looking for.
Titanium is far stronger. It takes more to wear it down. Teams want to get their car as low to the ground as they can. In many cases, this means that cars would bottom out, as they seek every millimeter.
Typically, this is only seen in the first few laps, on restarts as drivers start runs on lower air pressure. Once the tire pressure builds up, the car rides slightly higher than it does when starting a run and the sparks typically go away.
In addition, rubbing metal on the track surface wears down the skirts themselves, further lifting the car off the ground. Yet, with Ti skirts, they would take longer to wear down when bottoming out. So, instead of the track wearing away on the skirts, they would hold up.
Thus, Truex Jr was able to keep his car lower to the ground for a longer period of time with the use of Ti skirts. So we get this spectacular visual seen below as he threw sparks for a lot longer than the teams who already saw their side skirts worn down on the racing surface during the first few laps of a run.
Rule change for 2018
Directly following the 2017 season, NASCAR introduced new rules. The side skirts became a new focus.
In this era of the sport, teams would lean into the car or pull on the side skirts. That would bow them out and create down force.
For 2018, Aluminum and steel versions of side skirts were banned. Instead, NASCAR replaced them with a composite material.
The new composite material prevented teams from modifying the aerodynamics during pit stops.
Martin Truex Jr retired from full-time racing following the 2024 season. Cole Pearn and Truex Jr reunited this season as Truex Jr ran a one-off race in the Daytona 500.
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