Sprint Cup drivers test NASCAR’s new spoiler during practice at Talladega Superspeedway

By Bob Pockrass

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Crew chief Chad Knaus looks at the spoiler on Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet during a test session at Talladega Superspeedway.

Rusty Jarrett
Getty Images for NASCAR

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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Drivers started testing NASCAR’s new spoiler on their restrictor-plate cars Tuesday morning at Talladega Superspeedway but won’t know for sure how the change will affect the handling of their cars until they run in big packs.

The biggest pack during the morning session of the open test included just five cars. The test is designed to determine the size of the holes in the restrictor plates for Talladega and to get drivers accustomed to having a spoiler instead of a rear wing on the Sprint Cup car.

The spoiler will replace the wing in the next two or three weeks, and will be in use for the April 25 race at Talladega.

“It’s definitely different,” said four-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “I don’t know yet until we get more cars. A bigger spoiler, a bigger pocket of air – in some ways it seems like it’s easier to close up but it also seems like, because of that big spoiler, it’s more difficult to clear the car for the lead pass.

“Once you get into clean air, it just stops the car. But it didn’t do anything crazy, which was nice.”

Johnson was part of the five-car draft that turned a speed of about 194-195 mph around the 2.66-mile oval in the morning session, which was run in fairly cool temperatures. Teams started the day with the biggest restrictor plate ever – one with holes 1 1/32-inches in diameter (66/64ths, or seven more than what was used last October at Talladega).

After an hour of drafting practice Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR shrunk the restrictor plates to holes of 62/64ths of an inch because of the high speeds.

“For us, we can’t tell a 5-6-mile-an-hour difference in the car,” Johnson said. “It’s really the threshold of where the car lifts off that NASCAR has that data on. It’s more them dialing us down to that speed.”

Drivers were posting speeds of about 187-188 mph in single-car runs. Last year’s pole speed was 188.171 mph. Crew chiefs and drivers compared the cars with spoilers to the way the NASCAR trucks race with fast closing rates.

“To what we’ve been down here in qualifying trim before, it’s very comparable – maybe a little bit quicker, but not much,” said Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Mike Ford. “I assume it will be quite a bit faster [in the draft]. … With more drag and a bigger plate, you’re going to feel like Superman closing up, but as soon as you pull out [to draft], you’re going to hit a brick wall.”

The aluminum spoiler is 64.5 inches wide and four inches high. The spoiler for Talladega also is higher on each end than in the middle.

“The cars have a little bit more turbulent air when you’re behind other cars – it makes the car rattle and shake a little bit more, which I heard was similar to the Nationwide cars [with a spoiler],” said Jeff Gordon.

“Not a big surprise there, and a little bit of visual [issues], not necessarily behind you but when you’re a behind car, the corners of the spoiler are real tall [so it’s hard] seeing across those corners to the side of somebody, trying to look further ahead. But other than that, I thought everything went really well.”

One thing that is the same with the spoiler and the wing is the difficulty for drivers to find more speed than what they started with.

“You’ve kind of got what you’ve got,” said Michael Waltrip Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. “Speed-wise, we made some changes and tried a few things. We gained a little and lost a little but overall we stayed with how we unloaded.

“With the bigger plate and the bigger spoiler, the car accelerates a lot faster.”