Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, discussed Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio plans to implement digital dashboards in racecars as early as August. The idea is to give fans and competitors even more access to information from the cars.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup rule book states digital dash displays can’t be used before Aug. 5. Starting in 2016, “a digital dash display must be used at all (e)vents.”
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“That is the ultimate goal, is to get as much information as we can — first and foremost to the drivers and crew chiefs that they can see and react to — but ultimately to the fans,” O’Donnell said, according to NASCAR.com. “So if you’re sitting at the race track, and you’re on your device, we want you to essentially be in Denny Hamlin’s car and be able to see what he is seeing and react to it.
“It’s evolving, and it’s something that we think can be a real game changer for the sport in terms of us showcasing technology. There’s also some proprietary information. We want to make sure we keep that with the teams from a competitive standpoint, but some really cool stuff potentially coming for ’16 and I think the fans will ultimately enjoy what they see.”
Jamie McMurray, at Kentucky Speedway for a 2016 test with Goodyear tires, tweeted his approval of the new dashboards.
New @NASCAR dash we are testing today. I really like it. pic.twitter.com/NGez4Hw1Kv
— Jamie McMurray (@jamiemcmurray) April 13, 2015
Same dash just changed the page by hitting a switch. WAY different than what we have been using. pic.twitter.com/NNBdNRaYKs
— Jamie McMurray (@jamiemcmurray) April 13, 2015
NASCAR.com reports seven other drivers will participate in the tests Wednesday with McMurray: Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Brett Moffitt, Danica Patrick, Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish Jr.
