They were supposed to do the wheels this year, but never got that far. I saw pictures of them running prototypes last fall in the Daytona road course.

I was told the new wheels would be aluminum, which sounds dangerous for cars that get in back wrecks like they do. I'd be worried the wheel hoop would separate from the hub and fly into the crowd. Steel wheels can bend really bad, but stay on the car in most cases.

Also taller sidewalls allow flex which helps keep the contact patch on the ground longer under side loads?

It must be financially hard for the smaller teams to keep up with all their changes each year in order to draw more people to the sport. Based on spectator turnout they have chased a lot of people off.

I still watch the truck races sometimes - young kids with no fear leads to all sorts of crazy stuff on the track.