Update: Restrictor-plate change needed for safety

By Bob Pockrass

Saturday, October 07, 2006

DON KELLY

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TALLADEGA, Ala. - NASCAR changed the restrictor plates for the UAW-Ford 500 to reduce the possibility of the cars getting airborne during the race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR officials said Saturday.

The new restrictor plates will have four holes of seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, one-64th of an inch smaller than the ones used in practice Friday when Jeff Gordon reached a speed of 198.689 mph in the opening session at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR officials deemed that too high on the newly repaved high-banked tri-oval.

"Even though drivers were complimentary in their remarks in the new track surface, NASCAR decided to reduce the size of the carburetor restrictor-plate in the interest of safety," NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said.

NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said he anticipates the speeds to be in the low-190s in the race. Teams have used the 7/8-inch restrictor plate on and off for the last eight years, most recently in 2003.

"The teams have plenty of information to make the proper adjustments," Pemberton said. "They were given enough time this morning to make engine adjustments, tuning or gear changes."

Richie Gilmore, Dale Earnhardt Inc. Vice President, said he expects the cars to lose 10 horsepower. A restrictor-plate engine runs 450-500 horsepower, compared to 850-900 power for an unrestricted motor.

"Throttle response is going to be a lot lazier on the restarts," Gilmore said. "The pack is going to be tighter anyways with the new pavement, so that's one thing they probably did that is going to be even worse is they're going to group the field together in one big group."

NASCAR told the teams about the change Saturday morning and informed them that they would keep the same schedule with qualifying at 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday with the cars impounded and no practice prior to the race Sunday.

Pemberton said there was no discussion with the teams Friday night to help NASCAR decide to make the change because he did not want teams to spend money flying engine parts and pieces to Talladega by the time the garage opened Saturday morning. He also said there was no discussion about adding a practice session.

Team owner Jack Roush said the change will slow the cars down, but he didn't think the teams had time to make major changes.

"We don't have anything we can do," Roush said. "The calibration is all set for the carburetors. Everything is all organized. I don't think there will be any problem.

"It will just slow the cars down a little. ... It's fair and it's the same for everybody. If you had an unsafe situation that NASCAR decided needed to be addressed, they've got the prerogative and it's their responsibility to do it."

Gilmore said the change could effect teams that must qualify on speed more than the teams that are already locked in the field. Among those trying to make the race on speed is DEI's John Menard.

"We've run this plate before, but it's just disappointing that they didn't do it between practices [Friday]," Gilmore said. "I wish they would have made it in between practices. ... When you make that big a change, it effects the tune-up and the gear ratio, a lot goes along with that.

"To go in now and not have any practice is a pretty big gamble."

Jeff Gordon said he was pretty happy with where the speeds were yesterday on the track. While he doesn't want to see cars going airborne or dangerous conditionson the track, he would have liked to have had enough warning to have an opportunity to pass on the track.

"When you take power away from us and you do it with a restrictor-plate, usually it bunches us up even more," Gordon said. "It's going to be that much harder to break away from the pack, it's going to be that much harder to pass. You're going to just see us in a tighter group.

Pemberton said the change was made after the second practice because the slower cars had made gains that would increase the dangerous speeds in the pack.

"When we saw the speeds originally, we think the best decision was not overreact," Pemberton said. "We wanted to see how the practice unfold in the first hour. We went into the second hour and the speeds continued to escalate.

"The top speeds were the same, but some of the slower cars made the advancements."