NASCAR Drivers Take Full Day of Preparation with New Package
July 24, 2015 | By IMS
The early years of NASCAR racing at Indianapolis were marked by high late-race drama between legendary drivers.
NASCAR is expecting something similar with aerodynamic changes designed to lead to more drafting and more passing in this weekend’s races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- Saturday’s XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 and Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.
In announcing the changes, NASCAR chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said the goal was for more drivers to be able to use the draft to close in on leading cars and use the momentum and speed gained from the draft to slingshot past.
Friday’s practice sessions were the first for both series’ cars with the new aerodynamic package in place.
The impact of the aero changes will likely not be truly felt until the green flag falls, with drivers battling for position.
“I honestly think that until we get into the race on Sunday that it is hard to get anyone’s true opinion on what we’re going to have,” 2010 Brickyard winner Jamie McMurray said. “To me, on Sunday when you get two cars side by side with this package, the guy in third is going to have an extra engine. It’s going to be crazy the amount of speed he is going to have. I don’t know, but I think the restarts are going to be pretty wild.”
For the Sprint Cup series, the visible changes will be at both ends of the car – a two-inch splitter and five extra inches in the radiator pan at the front of the car, and an extra three inches added to the previously six-inch-high rear spoiler, with a new one-inch wicker bill on top. For the XFINITY series, the rear spoiler is two inches higher and the cars are using a rear bumper package normally used at high-banked superspeedways Daytona and Talladega.
As a result, both series’ cars will be punching larger holes in the air, allowing for trailing cars to use the draft to close in.
While the true impact will be felt under race conditions, drivers got a glimpse of what it might look like on Friday. The increased speed was noticeable in the draft – and was noticeably gone with the lack of it.
“I drafted a car down the back straightaway as he was pulling in, and the amount of speed you gain as you get closer to the car in front was huge,” Penske Racing’s Joey Logano said. “When you pull out (of the draft), it was like putting the brakes on. The draft is huge.
“What that does in the corners is going to be a different ballgame. The hole in the air is larger, so driving the car through the corner is going to be challenging, but the drag down the straightaway, will it overcome the challenges in the corner? That’s going to be the interesting part of the race.”
With 5/8-mile straightaways and four flat quarter-mile corners, the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval has long rewarded cars that can balance high horsepower with the skill to maintain speed through the corners, which has led to a winner’s list that reads like a list of NASCAR royalty.
The changes are designed to bring back the close racing and passing that marked the race’s early years, where on-track battles for the lead were common – starting with the late-race duel between Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan in the 1994 inaugural race or the two-man shootout between Bobby Labonte and Rusty Wallace that lasted most of the day in 2000.
This weekend’s races at Indianapolis is the second time NASCAR has implemented track-specific aerodynamic changes, following changes made for the July 11 Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway, which was won by Kyle Busch.
With Friday being a feeling-out period – the cars had nearly five hours of track time over three sessions – some drivers were discovering a different response than expected.
“It was a little loose behind cars and that caught me off-guard. You see this on paper and in theory, you think it would be really tight in traffic,” Bowyer said. “I’m optimistic about our car and the race this weekend for the fans. I think it will be good.”
Not every driver is expecting a substantial increase in passing due to the changes.
“Passing will be tough, to say the least, but we’re trying something new,” said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who had Friday’s fastest lap at 182.208 mph. “I can’t fault them for trying. They tried what we wanted to try (at Kentucky), and I thought we had a pretty successful race. Now we’re trying something different. We’ll see if it’s better or not. Here is a very tough racetrack. It’s a one-groove racetrack. It’s been tough to pass here as long as I’ve been here. It’s just a tough track.”
“It seems like it’s a little difficult and challenging to pass, but once we all get out there in a ball, hopefully we’ll be spread out and slingshotting and drafting and doing all of the things we hope to see,” said Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 Five-Hour Energy Toyota.
Some drivers would prefer to see less aerodynamic grip and more mechanical grip.
“I really believe we need to rely on way less, as in no aerodynamic downforce and side force, and then we could race close to one another,” said Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Stanley Toyota. “I think that’s the way we need to keep going, but we’ll give this our best shot and see what comes of it.”
The XFINITY Series cars running in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 are also feeling out a new aero package. They are running spoilers that are two inches larger than normal, and they are using rear bumper covers that are specifically used at restrictor plate tracks – Daytona and Talladega.
“We’re trying to achieve more drafting and more passing. Hopefully with the drafting we can make runs at cars and actually pass them,” said Dakoda Armstrong, a New Castle native who drives the WinField Ford in the XFINITY Series. “That’s one thing that’s been tough in past years; getting up to another car and trying to pass them. This should enable us to get a run on a car up front, pass them and be able to clear them.”
With the increased draft, the leading cars can become sitting ducks for those trailing behind.
“You’re going to have to block, you’re going to have to make some big moves, especially on these restarts when cars are side-by-side off the corners,” Logano said.
One challenge comes from the rear spoiler, which rises nine inches from the car’s rear, making visibility through the rear-view mirror a challenge. The three-inch spoiler extension is clear and allows drivers to see through, but the wicker bill on top is not translucent. Logano said the visibility is about five car lengths.
No matter the package used by the 43 starters in this weekend’s races, they will still come down to a combination of speed, skill and the right strategy calls.
“It’s Indy,” Logano said. “It’s always tough. It’s always going to be a place where strategy comes into play, no matter what package you use. It’s like Pocono, where you can pit and not go down a lap, and so that’s going to jumble up the field. Two-tires, four-tires, that can jumble up the field.”