Evernham believes cost-containment issues are important in the sport, and that could eventually be a good reason for fuel injection. "Eventually, it's got to happen because a carburetor is a thing of the past. Otherwise, we'd still be running coupes and sedans."
Danny Lawrence is the engine builder at Richard Childress Racing and builds the engines for drivers Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, and Jeff Green. He would like to see the engines run more efficiently.
"Sooner or later, it's going to come to where we have to run unleaded fuel," Lawrence says. "That will be the reason to use fuel injection. I can guarantee you it won't be where everybody builds their own fuel injection like everybody builds their own carburetors right now. They still want it to be where the guys in the shop don't have to have a lot of engineers or computer guys. NASCAR wants to be able to put it on a table and take it apart and see exactly what you have there.
Here's a cutaway illustration...
Here's a cutaway illustration of the fuel-injected, electronically managed engine used in ASA competition. The ASA is the largest stock car series currently using such engines.
"The sport has escalated and there will be a time where the sport will want everybody to lean towards the new technology."
Lawrence says every team has flat-screen monitors and satellite dishes on their toolbox on pit road, so technology is already very visible in the series.
"The block might be a 1955 model block, but all the pieces around it are all new with new materials and pieces and they are lighter," Lawrence says. "They limit some pieces, but we are still searching for the ultimate valve springs, the ultimate camshafts. You always have guys who figure out how to make it better.
"We have outdated the carburetor, but with a computer system on a fuel-injected engine, it would be easy to get an unfair advantage."
Lawrence says when he started in 1982 an engine could be put together in one day. Today, that work time is up to two days because of the variety of pieces, despite the additional manpower in the engine department. Crankshafts are 20 pounds lighter. The pieces are lighter, but more durable. A fabricator can work four days to build the right oil pan. Teams can spend $800 on oil lines alone.