Ryan - The only advantage I ever saw to the (successful) leaner cars was reduced tire wear and fewer broken spokes. For me, it's not worth the extra complexity of design just to save a little tread and some spokes. Simplicity equals reliability and reliability helps win races.

I've run afoul of race officials and tech people many times for thrashing the track favorite in a race. In my stock car days I raced at a track where every time I beat the official's favorite I got tore down in the tech shed. If the favorite won, we all got to load up and go home early without getting greasy.

I always believed like Smokey Yunick - every rule is subject to interpretation. However, the officials don't like it if your interpretation doesn't match theirs...