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“During practice and the race (Daytona 500), the only spoiler permitted will be 5-3/4 inches in height and 57 inches in width for all Ford Taurus models and 6-1/4 inches height and 57 inches in width for all Dodge Intrepid models.”
The Chevrolets led qualifying last Saturday with Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick locking in the first row. Thursday’s Gatorade Twin 125s to determine the final lineup for Sunday’s Daytona 500 were won by Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip in Chevrolets.
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| Ford rear spoilers will be 5 3/4 inches. Credit: ASP |
Ricky Rudd led all Ford drivers with the ninth-fastest time last Saturday and Kurt Busch was the second-fastest Ford at 15th on the grid.
“That’s another quarter inch, yeah it’s getting us closer,” said Rusty Wallace, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. “There’s only so much you can do. My concern is that these cars are going to start getting too loose.
“They need to get the damn Chevrolet and Pontiac and put more spoiler on those guys. They just keep cutting off of ours. If they added spoiler to the other two, it would bring them back to us a little bit.
“The Ford and the Dodge are pretty similar and the Dodges probably needed a break also.”
Robbie Loomis is the crew chief on the defending and four-time Winston Cup champion Chevrolet of Jeff Gordon. He feels it does give the other two makes more of an advantage.
“It’s definitely an advantage for them,” Loomis said. “If I’m sitting in NASCAR’s shoes and watching the race, something does need to be done to equal out the balance. It’s just a shame.
“Every year you see different manufacturers go through this. In 2000, when we (Chevrolet) had the new Monte Carlo the Fords were just blowing away the competition.
“You get down here in the middle of Speedweeks and they make changes. It’s like playing three-quarters of a football game and now you have to go out there with your quarterback having one arm tied behind his back for the fourth one.
“The wind tunnel numbers showed the Dodges did need some changes. However, if you’re going off the wind tunnel numbers they’re a little better than the rest of the cars.
“Something needed to be done to make the racing better, that was obvious. If it puts more people in the stands and keeps us all in jobs, we’re doing good.”
Sterling Marlin led the Dodge camp in qualifying with the 13th-fastest time in the No. 40 Coors Dodge. During Thursday’s two 50-lap qualifying races not one Dodge led either race.
Adding to that was the fact there were only three Dodges in the top 10, combined, for both races.
“Obviously, this change is justified,” said Tony Glover, team manager for Marlin’s team. “We haven’t had a Dodge lead a race all this week. This new aero package really affected the rules.
“I think it hurt our performance more than the others because Ford and Dodge have somewhat similar body styles. Both those makes seemed to be struggling this week.
“They gave the Fords another quarter inch and it will make them better.”
With the engineering and precision that goes into building all makes of cars for superspeedway races, the question of handling comes into play.
“Right now, most of the cars are pretty tight in the long runs,” Glover said. “We’ve used almost every trick we know to free them up and we were still tight.
“Hopefully, a little more rear downforce might help that issue.”
The new ruling will be utilized during all practice sessions on Friday and Saturday leading up to the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
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