Controversy Sweeps NASCAR, Fans up in Arms About Lugnut Style Change

For those who have yet to hear, NASCAR will be making another major change soon. The next generation of NASCAR stock car will make its way to tracks in 2021. The massive overhaul hasn’t kicked up too much of a stir. One aspect of the car seems to have fans up in arms, though.

With the next rendition of the car, NASCAR vehicles will now sport 18-inch aluminum BBS wheels. The wheels will certainly bring a different look to the series of racing. However, this isn’t what fans are going crazy about. Apparently, because the wheel has a single center lugnut design, folks aren’t too happy.

In some regard, the debate makes sense. After all, NASCAR kind of has that grassroots feel that other forms of motorsports don’t really get. With this, some fans have the idea that they want it to remain as old-school as possible. They definitely have an argument as the quickly evolving sport has pretty quickly changed just about everything about itself.

The latest wheel development seems to be centered around a more durable combination with less prep work involved. While the five lug style wheels would have to have lugnuts glued to them in order to be able to quickly change them out, the single lug wheel has a fixed lugnut. In addition, the modification helps with some safety concerns. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. says, wheels flying off of cars simply isn’t all that common. However, it does happen and could cause a safety issue.

As we follow along with a segment from the Dale Jr. Download below, we get to hear his opinion on the matter. In addition, the guys talk a little bit about how NASCAR is thinking about changing the location of the number on the car. In any situation, both of these topics of discussion are going to be rather controversial. It’ll be interesting to see where the final decisions land and how the fans react to the changes.