NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR teams slow down at Daytona

Published Jan. 13, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will head to Daytona International Speedway with a slightly altered restrictor plate for the upcoming three-day test session.

Michael Waltrip Racing crew chief Pat Tryson, in a news release, weighed in on the change from a 30/32-inch plate to a 29/32-inch one Thursday.

“I think the decision was made to slow down the speeds because the speeds were too high at the first test,” said Tryson, who is crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. “It’s a good move on the side of safety because no one wants to see a car go airborne at the potential speeds that could be generated with the plate they had last month. It will be better for the driver and better for the fans in the stands. Safety always comes first.”

The smaller restrictor plate will further limit the airflow through the engine and, therefore, lowers the horsepower. During the recent Goodyear tire test at the newly repaved track, drivers turned laps of 197 mph in drafting practice. This shift should lower those speeds slightly. 

“By slowing down the cars, it will make the draft bigger and tighter,” Tryson said. “Before with a little more power, the cars would spread out a little bit. I think now we can expect to see the cars a lot closer together and more in one pack versus two, three or four. It’s going to make for some great racing for sure because I expect to see more three-, maybe four-wide racing at Daytona, which is exactly what we saw at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s going to be a lot of fun for everyone to watch.”

Bobby Labonte, who participated in the tire test with his JTG Daugherty Racing team, said that teams inevitably reach even higher speeds in the race than in the early test sessions. Now, things will be slowed. 

“When we tested during the Goodyear tire test at Daytona, I could see the speeds of two cars that got together being high,” Labonte said. “When you get to actually racing, things always go a little faster. I think making the restrictor plate smaller is a deal where NASCAR was foreseeing that speeds would be really high.

“With a smaller restrictor plate, I think it will be similar to what you see at Talladega. The handling affect will be gone. The throttle response will be a little less for us and it might be harder to complete the pass. Daytona has been historically a handling track the past 15 to 20 years that I’ve been down there. I think fans will see the race coming down to cars being bunched up in the right line, getting the right push from somebody, clearing the pass and blocking more like we see at Talladega."

share

Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

NASCAR Cup Series