I catch your point, Michael... Even with the restrictions -of which I am in favor of a few of them for costs and safety (for the moment), one of the side effects will be a reduction in speed- FOR MOST TEAMS.
Team Schumacher, Team Force and a few others, that bankroll these things like they are making their own $1000 bill master stamping plates in the CNC room, will continue to be the teams that, even with smaller pumps, less air, less spark, more weight, etc.- because of their own R&D departments, as well as the availability of the engineering departments of their sponsors, will continue to be the leaders of the Low ET/ Top MPH Clubs.. It has always been said that Cubic Dollars has a natural headstart over Cubic Inches everytime.
I do believe the class racing will get closer, and the amount of competitors could possibly increase due to the costs stabilizing (they will never really go down), but when it comes to the Sunday final 4, barring any unforseen slips, those that have the capabilities to make their own (AJ, JFR) "better" parts will do so, and if those parts allow them to still run 4.4's and 350, you know that those guys will do it, leaving the 4.8/300 cars embarrasingly in the dust. More moola for those that got...
It is one step closer to F1 (or PSB), where rule details are imposed on individual teams and set-ups to keep the cars FAIRLY close to one another to keep it interesting. But until the rules are refined, a limited few will make all the big Sunday money for quite a while because since they play by the general rules of the game, they can still squeeze out that Tenth and 10MPH...
Time for a revamp of the whole mess, maybe? Or a new class- AAA/FD..AAA/FC (Affordable AA..)
It's not a poor man's sport.. Step up or step off