Tag: next gen

NASCAR to implement Next Gen safety upgrades

NASCAR has informed its Cup Series teams that additional safety updates need to be implemented on the Next Gen chassis effective early next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Updates to the center and front clip of the car announced Thursday: Plated …

NASCAR has informed its Cup Series teams that additional safety updates need to be implemented on the Next Gen chassis effective early next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Updates to the center and front clip of the car announced Thursday:

  • Plated right-side door bars
  • Front clip softening
  • Front strut softening
  • Front ballast box softening (must be empty)
  • Modified cross brace

Center section updates:

  • Two left-side door plate gussets
  • 0.060” thick right-side steel door plate installed
  • Additional tube in the left side of the main cage

Front clip updates:

  • Upper rail triggers
  • Removal of upper control arm longitudinal tube behind engine mount
  • Front ballast softening (must be empty)
  • Upper frame horns
  • New front cross member

Front bumper strut updates:

  • Four main slots in the right and upper struts
  • Two minor triggers on the longitudinal leg
  • Eight main slots in the right and left lower struts
  • Two minor triggers on the longitudinal leg

NASCAR’s focus remains on the center section and front clip of the car. These additional changes are meant to increase the amount of crush the front clip is capable of during a crash. It’s an effort to reduce the acceleration the center section with the driver is exposed to during a frontal impact.

The changes to the right side of the car are an effort to strengthen the car against intrusions during crash impacts. Some of the updates have been in the works since January. However, officials wound up with additional data and a fresh perspective at the right-side door bars after the crash between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

Official recreated the crash between Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet and Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang, determining it was a 55-degree impact angle. Through four different video angles and GPS data, it was estimated that there was a 59mph difference in speed between Larson and Preece.

It was a right-side impact to the door when Preece t-boned Larson, who was sliding back up the racetrack, during a crash.

NASCAR previously had Cup Series teams make two changes going into the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Those updates concerned the right-side door bars and removing the front clip v-brace. Both of those changes remain in effect.

Updates to Next Gen available at Charlotte

NASCAR Cup Series teams will have the option to implement updates to the Next Gen chassis beginning this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A memo was sent to teams on May 12 after findings from the investigation of the crash involving Kyle Larson …

NASCAR Cup Series teams will have the option to implement updates to the Next Gen chassis beginning this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

A memo was sent to teams on May 12 after findings from the investigation of the crash involving Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece at Talladega Superspeedway. The investigation included looking over both the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, talking to both drivers and going through data.

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There were two updates made to the car for this weekend. Teams were also made aware that additional chassis updates could be forthcoming.

The updates going into effect for the Coca-Cola 600:

1. Six right side bar gussets may be added to the outlined locations in the diagram shown below. The gussets will be provided to the teams at no charge.

2. The front clip V-brace must be removed from the assembly.

NASCAR is conducting two days of crash tests at a facility in Ohio this week. It will be decided after those tests whether additional chassis updates will be implemented.

Larson and Preece were uninjured in the multi-car crash at Talladega last month. After Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson made contact off a late restart, Larson spun to the inside before coming back up the banking. When he did so, Preece t-boned Larson in the right-side door, the impact severely damaging the chassis and bars in the door.

Cowboys WR Amari Cooper in Top 10 at outperforming expected catch rate

The four-time Pro Bowler has a reputation for his route running, but the numbers show he’s among the best at catching balls he shouldn’t.

Hating on Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper has become a busy pastime for several subsets of NFL fans. There’s the members of Raiders Nation who want to believe the silver and black dumped an underachiever just in time. There’s the Eagles and Redskins faithful swimming in sour grapes after their clubs failed to lure Cooper away. And there’s even a contingent of Cowboys fans who inexplicably don’t believe the four-time Pro Bowler is worthy of the WR1 spot in Dallas.

But numbers don’t lie. And the numbers show that Cooper is one of the best receivers in the league. One set of figures, in fact, pinpoints him as the sixth-best.

In a Monday morning rundown of the league’s top pass-catchers of 2019, NFL.com’s Nick Shook uses Next Gen Stats to compare players’ catch rate- the percentage of targets caught- to expected catch rate, or the average completion probability when targeted. Basically, did the player do better than he technically should have?

According to Shook:

“Completion probability takes into account a number of factors, including QB pressure, separation between the target and the closest defender, distance of throw, speed of the receiver and so on. From a pass-catcher’s perspective, the factors that are most important are separation, tight-window percentage, cushion (at time of snap), double-team percentage and air yards per target, among others.”

When viewed through that lens, Cooper flat-out excelled. His actual 2019 catch rate was 66.4%. His expected catch rate, though, was just 57.8%. That means Cooper outperformed expectations on his targets by 8.6%.

To put it in concrete terms, Cooper was targeted 119 times last season. He made 79 of those catches. But the data says he should have caught just 68 of them. Cooper made 11 catches he had no business making. Almost one per game. And that over-and-above mark is what puts Cooper on the list with only Michael Thomas, Tyler Lockett, Stefon Diggs, Marvin Jones, and Calvin Ridley ranked higher.

Of Cooper, Shook writes:

“Defenses liked to press Cooper on nearly one-fourth of all routes run by the receiver, but his separation at time of pass arrival (2.6 yards) falls in line with the rest of these receivers. His tight-window percentage (25.2) was third-highest, but none of his advanced metrics illustrate a receiver who was blanketed in 2019. With that said, Cooper was a receiver who made his quarterback, Dak Prescott, better last season, helping the signal-caller put together a 114.4 passer rating when targeting him. Prescott enjoyed doing that plenty, with Cooper posting the third-highest average of targets per routes run (23.8%) of this group.”

Much has been made (and rightly so) of Cooper’s perplexing tendency to shrink statistically in road games, but the math bears out that he is one of the best in the business at catching footballs during NFL games. And his on-the-job performance clearly justifies his elite payday among the league’s other highest-earning receivers.

No one in their right mind disputes Cooper’s status as one of the premier route-running technicians in the game. But in terms of catching most everything thrown his way and then some, Cooper doesn’t always spring immediately to mind, perhaps because the rare drops tend to leave a more lasting impression than the unlikely surprise grabs. It’s classic perception versus reality.

The real reality, though, is that Cooper is Top-10 caliber. And with Michael Gallup on the verge of becoming a household name and a highly-touted rookie also ready to join the party, Cooper’s stats, according to Shook, may actually improve.

“Cooper is a case that will be fascinating to watch in 2020, thanks to the addition of 17th overall pick CeeDee Lamb. Might these numbers jump with more dangerous targets available to Prescott?”

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