The 'minor-league' (Nationwise) series just under the Cup series did run V-6s for a couple of years but they still had to run the restrictor plates on the superspeedways, some initially thought with the new 'boxy' car that recently came out for Cup they could eliminate the plates but it didn't, they did open them up a little giving the cars a little more power for passing.
Keep in mind also that the restrictor plates are only used on the 2.5 mile superspeedways so the cars are faster on the 1.5 mile tracks than the big tracks. Crazy huh.
You really need to view a race in person to appreciate just how good the drivers are. I've been to over 70 Cup races over the years and enjoyed every single one of them, but nowadays I'll only hit one or maybe two.
