Carl Edwards sits 10th in the Sprint Cup Series standings, 165 points behind leader Mark Martin after three Chase for the Cup races.  Photo by Tammyrae Benscoter

Well documented are the sponsorship woes and the recent news of a decline in merchandise sales for NASCAR teams. But just as prominent are the large gaps between cars racing at speed on some of NASCAR's larger circuits.

According to Jimmie Johnson, high costs and lack of funding are beginning to detract from the racing product at 1.5- and 2-mile speedways such as the Auto Club Speedway, where the Sprint Cup Series tour stops this weekend.

Johnson said Friday that the Car of Tomorrow platform could use some tweaks at the larger tracks, but they aren't coming until the economy turns around.

“We still have some ground to make up,” Johnson said. “My opinion and I think the vast majority's opinion is we've made the cars more aero sensitive.

“I feel that we all know we can make it better, and when the economy recovers and the teams are more stable with their financial situations, there are some changes that could be introduced and I hope could be introduced to take away some aero sensitivity on the bigger tracks.”

NASCAR took measures to reduce the importance of aerodynamics on race cars by implementing a standard template on the Car of Tomorrow, first introduced as the full-time solution in the Cup Series in 2008.

Carl Edwards said that's a start, but by fixing one thing, another problem arose.

“I think they made a good step towards that by changing the cars,” Edwards said. “They have a little less downforce than they used to have. But at the same time, the cars became closer.”

Stuck in the middle of the pack for the first three races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Edwards has experienced every type of aerodynamic detriment a car can have – and in tighter quarters than ever before.

After just more than five years of racing stock cars, though, the Cup veteran said he knows a solution to NASCAR's dirty air dilemma.

“Just imagine if all the splitters broke off of the cars and the wings fell of the back the race you'd see,” Edwards said. “It wouldn't matter if you were behind somebody.”

Cup cars being in stark contrast to the slower dirt track cars he used to race, Edwards said NASCAR can take something from less aero-dependent vehicles. Using Silver Crown cars as an example, Edwards wants to get the driver more involved with how his car finishes.

“To me, I think we'd be just fine with no downforce or 100 pounds of downforce or whatever keeps lift from happening,” Edwards said. “Then we could rely on the driver's foot, the tires and the mechanical grip and things like that to race these cars.

“I think the closer we get to that, the closer the racing will be.”

But not everyone has a problem with the spread out, single-file style of racing at NASCAR's 2-mile speedways.

Brian Vickers said he's sliding the tires and working hard no matter what the venue, and that fans need to appreciate what they're witnessing.

“Sitting behind the wheel, we’re pushing these cars to the limit every lap,” Vickers said. “That’s racing. Sometimes you’re going to be a little spread out, and that’s OK. When the fans sit there and watch a car go by at 200 mph, you’re going to be hard pressed to tell me that’s not exciting – even if they’re not three, four wide.”

NASCAR officials have announced no intentions to adjust the Car of Tomorrow platform for 2010. However, a new Nationwide Series template is being finalized with features much different when comapred to its Cup counterpart.