Sprint Cup teams will use spoiler during upcoming tire test at Texas Motor Speedway
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR drivers headed to Texas Motor Speedway for a Goodyear tire test Tuesday and Wednesday will test with the new spoiler on the back of their cars, according to NASCAR officials.
It will be the first on-track test with a group of drivers. Since its debut in 2007 when it was used in a handful of events, the new car has featured a wing instead of a spoiler on the rear deck lid.
Drivers scheduled to participate in the two-day tire test include owner/driver Tony Stewart (Stewart-Haas Racing), Kurt Busch (Penske Racing Dodge), Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing Ford) and Brian Vickers (Red Bull Racing Toyota).
“I always thought we were missing the side draft when we went to this wing,” Busch said during Fan Fest at Daytona International Speedway. “The big question is, when we put a spoiler on this car, what happens to the side force? Did that wing really generate all that side force? A couple of years ago, that was something that we really didn’t know that much about. This COT made us learn quite a bit about it and cars are now dependent upon it.”
NASCAR informed teams of the move away from the wing Jan. 15. According to the memo sent to crew chiefs, the phase-in date for the spoiler had not been determined, although it’s expected to be sometime in late March. A test session for all teams has already been scheduled for March 23-24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
An outside vendor will supply the spoiler, which will be made from aluminum. NASCAR officials said they hope to generate the same amount of downforce with the spoiler as currently created by the wing.
“Why did we go to that wing? Because it does look goofy,” Busch said. “But the other thing I see is that there is something about the way that when one of these COT cars breaks away into the lead, that second-place car can’t get up to him because he’s up against that threshold of downforce. That’s all the air he can get on his car and that lead car is blocking that air. How is it coming off the wing? We don’t know. Let’s put a spoiler on it, let’s check it out. Let’s see how a car reacts from behind, because we want to see … these cars bunched up [and] when the leader gets out there, he doesn’t have a distinct advantage.
“That’s been the biggest thing, and I hope that the spoiler helps with that [because] when that lead car gets out there, you can’t catch him.”
