NASCAR tests different packages
By Bob Pockrass
Monday, October 09, 2006
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TALLADEGA, Ala. - NASCAR searched for the right combination of restrictor plates and gear ratios during the one-day "car of tomorrow" test Monday at Talladega Superspeedway as they went from a plate with holes of 15/16ths of an inch in diameter to 1-inch versions. Teams raced with a seventh-eighths inch plate Sunday at Talladega.
Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said the engines are much more like an engine used at Lowe's Motor Speedway rather than a highly specialized restrictor-plate engine currently used at a restrictor-plate track such as Talladega. There had been no gear rule for restrictor-plate engines, but there will be one with the car of tomorrow.
Darby confirmed the rear wings will be made by Crawford Composites and distributed by NASCAR. The front splitter, an adjustable shelf that sits underneath the front of the car, had been made of wood during earlier tests, but NASCAR has settled on a durable composite fiber that won't splinter as much as wood or carbon fiber if it drags the ground.
Thirteen cars took to the track for the test, which included single-car runs in the morning and early afternoons before heading into a drafting session.
"We're doing more for NASCAR than we are personally," Roush Racing driver Jamie McMurray said before the drafting portion. "We haven't decided on a [restrictor] plate yet what we're going to run. ... The cars are kind of trimmed out as far as the splitter in the front and the wing in the back. There is not a lot you can do to the car to make it a lot quicker."
Teams also worked with bump stops, a rubber bumper on the shocks, which was outlawed years ago. McMurray said it will be cheaper and easier for teams to use different bump stops than the various expensive coil-binding spring packages used to manage handling.
Drivers also knew that the cars they were driving in the draft might not feel exactly the same as they will next October in the race.
"It just depends on what package is in there - plate size and rear gear," said MB2 Motorsports driver Joe Nemechek said. "It's very similar to what we're running now. It's not quite where the trucks were.
"We're kind of halfway between that. ... There's a lot of things that we have to change what we have. Everbody's cars here don't meet all the templates. There isn't a car here that is legal to next year's rules. We're just trying to do the best we can with what we have."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jamie McMurray
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