NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Low-downforce package to get first test at Atlanta

Published Mar. 2, 2017 11:20 a.m. ET

Tom Jensen

This weekend marks the debut of NASCAR’s low-downforce aerodynamic package, which will be used in 32 of 36 points races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

This is the aero platform that will be run at every track except Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, the two restrictor-plate tracks on the circuit.

Less downforce makes the cars harder to drive, putting a premium on driving skill and, hopefully, making the competition even tighter.

“I’m not sure how it (aero-package) will affect us," said AJ Allmendinger, the third-place finisher in the Daytona 500. "You don’t really know until you get out there. It’s hard, even if you go test it. You kind of feel it, but you don’t really know until you get to a race weekend and you get all the rubber built up on the track, more importantly, you get 39 other cars around you.

“It’s definitely going to be less downforce,” said Allmendinger. “You are going to be sliding around more, but how that is going to affect the cars or the racing, we are not going to really know until we get on the track.”

The package will get its first test Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (FOX, 2:3o p.m. ET).

This handy graphic explains it well.