 | | Many drivers say they can't feel much of a difference in their cars under the new spoiler and tire changes. Credit: Turner Sports Interactive |
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
January 31, 2005
08:21 PM EST (01:21 GMT)
LAS VEGAS -- Leading up to this week's Nextel Cup Series tests at Las Vegas and Fontana, all the talk centered around how teams would adjust to having an inch taken off their spoilers and Goodyear's corresponding tire compound. So far, so good. "It really hasn't had a dramatic effect," said Mark Martin after about three hours of testing on Monday at Las Vegas. "There's been a lot of hysteria built around these changes, but I can't tell any difference. It doesn't feel any different to me." For 2005, NASCAR cut off an inch of spoiler, and Goodyear responded by changing the compounds of its tires. Crew chiefs have said the adjustments have meant round-the-clock work to get the cars to where they need to be. After spending part of Monday on the racetrack, Martin thinks the concerns may be more hype than anything else. "They (teams) act like they're the only ones losing an inch off the spoiler," he said. "It's the same for everyone. "Guys say you won't be able to race side-by-side," Martin said. "I don't plan on running side-by-side. I plan on passing." "If things are different, then people will complain." Even folks on his own team. "My team has been freaked out," Martin said. "If my car is loose, everybody else's is going to be loose, too." There seems to be a consensus that the smaller spoiler does make the cars a bit looser, but Jeff Gordon said even that was not as big a difference as his team had anticipated. "We came here a little bit tight and we stayed a little bit tight," Gordon said. "There maybe isn't as big a difference as we thought. We're just trying to get as much information as we can "The cars want to move around a lot more in the corner," Gordon said. "But I felt like we were not far off of where we were last year." Jimmie Johnson, who finished 16th in the 2004 Las Vegas race, agrees that there is more movement in the car, but he says that plays into his dirt racing background. As far as adjusting, last season's runner-up seems far from worried. "The teams are way too smart," Johnson said. "Our car has been great. I don't care what it drives like or what it handles like as long as I'm in Victory Lane." However, Johnson also believes that in coming seasons, teams shouldn't have to deal with so many changes, that maybe the racetracks should "push back." "Look at what they did with Homestead-Miami Speedway with the progressive banking and how that improved the racing," Johnson said. "I think we maybe need to go in that direction a little more and give the teams a bit of a break." Sterling Marlin, a winner at Las Vegas in 2002, said there are changes, but nothing that should prove too taxing for drivers at NASCAR's top level. "It's a little loose," Marlin said. "I think you'll see the tires give up pretty good. You can't drive it like you want to, but I think we can fix it." The Dodge teams, like Marlin's and that of Ryan Newman, have more adjustments to make than others because they're trying to get used to the new Charger bodies. For Newman, it all means there's little time to ease back to work. "There's a lot of unknowns," Newman said. "You're basically taking downforce off the back of the car and not much off the front. "That, in conjunction with the new tail and nose section for the Charger is providing a learning curve for us," he said. "In the end, it should put more of the driver back in the car, but it'll also mean the team will have to do their job as far as building a good car balance so the driver can work with it. "It's different for everybody, but we're getting more comfortable with it." Monday's test sessions were uneventful, save for John Andretti's spin late in the day in the No. 14 Ford fielded by ppc Racing. There was no heavy damage to the car. NOTE: NASCAR Timing and Scoring is not being run in Las Vegas this week, so no official times from Monday's tests were available. | 
