Twenty-four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams assembled Tuesday at Talladega Superspeedway in an R&D test session that was used to confirm that the gear ratio was compatible with the restrictor plate size for next month’s running of the Aaron’s 499 (Sunday, April 25, 1 p.m. ET).
The cars ran with the spoiler on the rear of the cars, as NASCAR announced in January that it was going to transition from the wing to the traditional spoiler sometime during the first quarter of this season. Teams started the day with a 1 1/32-inch sized restrictor plate. For the majority of the morning session, the teams participated in single-car runs over the 2.66-mile superspeedway. However, five cars hooked up for some drafting shortly before the lunch break and the speeds picked up a bit, with Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) putting up the quickest time of 48.741 seconds or 196.467 miles per hour.
Teams began drafting in earnest after lunch. The plate size went down to 31/32” and the teams adjusted the size of their rear spoilers in order to find that happy medium between high speeds and handling.
“I think we are going to take some benefits from today’s test and be able to apply them down the road with this car and particular package,” said Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet). “I think the car looks really cool and I think you’re going to see some more great racing here at Talladega next month. You see it all here – you have pile ups, you have three-four wide racing, you have bump drafting and you have passes for the lead.”
Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition, was pleased with how the adjustments went during the afternoon practice.
“We saw that the closure rates were a little too quick in the initial drafting session after lunch,” said Pemberton. “So, we had the teams make some adjustments, including going down on the plate size and trimming the spoiler back some. We believe we came away here today with a good starting point and are looking forward to coming back here next month with a great race.”
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