NASCAR drivers pushed for 2019 driver-aid ban

NASCAR will ban a key driver aid for the 2019 Cup series season by removing the driver-adjustable track bar that allows competitors to adjust chassis set-up on track.

Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry DeWalt and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Shell Pennzoil green flag start

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Red White & Blue and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Shell Pennzoil lead the field at the start

Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry DeWalt, Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Lowe's for Pros, Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Skittles, Paul Menard, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford Fusion Menards / Dutch Boy, and Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Busch Beer

Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Haas Automation, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry FedEx Ground, Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing, Toyota Camry 5-hour ENERGY

The device was introduced for the 2015 Cup season so that drivers could influence the handling during the changing conditions of a race.

NASCAR claims drivers had approached the series over a desire to lose the driver-adjustable track bar.

"We’ve had the driver-adjustable trackbar for quite a while now and many of them [the drivers] came to us and said, ‘Hey, look. This really didn’t do what we’d hoped for and we’d rather not have it,’" Scott Miller, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, told SiriusXM Radio.

“So part of the 2019 rules is that the driver-adjustable, cockpit-adjustable trackbar is no longer in play for 2019.”

The implication of the change means that pitstop set-up changes will become more crucial.

Previously a NASCAR team could make a wedge adjustment, which relates to suspension set-up, and any mistakes could be countered by driver adjustment on track.

Now that safety net has been removed, a year after NASCAR reduced the number of over-the-wall pit crew, means any set-up mistakes would have to be fixed at the next pitstop.

The previous rules changes in 2018 led to several issues early in the season as the wheel guns proved problematic.

The 2019 rule change follows on the heels of NASCAR's radically different aero packages after the success of Charlotte's All-Star race earlier this year.