NASCAR officials pleased with speed, likely won't make changes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The information highway wasn’t quite as crowded Saturday as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams wrapped up a three-day test session at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for next month’s 55th annual Daytona 500.

Preseason Thunder was the first true test for the new Generation-6 car with the new restrictor-plate rules package. For the first time, teams got to see how their cars performed on a plate track while running alone as well as in packs.

Both experiences brought mixed results. With solo runs the order of the day Saturday, Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing Ford), topped the speed chart in the afternoon session with a lap of 194.936 mph. That paled in comparison to Friday’s 199.650 mph run from Trevor Bayne (Wood Brothers Racing Ford), which came during that day’s first drafting session.

A 12-car pileup Friday afternoon sent roughly one-third of the teams home. Twenty-one remained Saturday, and several of those departed after a morning’s worth of work.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Hendrick Motorsports), Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) and Ryan Newman (Stewart-Haas Racing) also eclipsed the 194-mph mark Saturday.

Steve Letarte, crew chief for Earnhardt Jr., and the No. 88 team spent the weekend methodically working through a long checklist, oblivious to everything except for their own results.

What was gleaned?

“Hard to say,” Letarte said. “There are so many unknowns in the field. You don’t know what configuration everyone is running. Parts are still kind of tricking in … there are a lot of different items that could affect the speed, so we’re just ignoring the speed chart when it comes to other cars and we’re just going through our list, trying to find what we need when we come back in February.”

Letarte said there were still items unchecked on the team’s list even after three full days on the track.

“Oh no, we never get through our list,” he said. “We make sure we have more ideas and directions than we could ever work through.

“That way, when you see fruit in one area you can explore it. You never get through everything you want to try.”

In addition to the new body styles of Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota, the focus has been on sorting through a rules package that included changes in spoiler size and angle, front grille size and the setting for the radiator relief valve. Only the restrictor-plate size (29/32nds) was the same as 2012.

“I think everyone likes the challenge this car is giving them,” said SPEED analyst Larry McReynolds, a two-time Daytona 500 winner as crew chief. “I won’t say crew chiefs the last two years here ever since the repave haven’t had to work hard. I would never say that. But it’s not been much of a challenge. The track has had so much grip, the cars were so good, you just sent it out there … and hoped that all the stars lined up.”

Handling is much more important now, McReynolds said, “because these cars … they’re not down in the race track. They’ve got 500 pounds less downforce than last year’s Daytona car.

“These guys are going to have to work on making these cars drive good.”

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, said officials were pleased with what they saw, including drafting speeds that approached 200 mph.

“We’re in the ballpark,” he said. “We know the teams will go back and they’ll work, and they’ll bring a little bit better ‘this’ and better ‘that’ (back). We feel comfortable with that. … We’re right in the ballpark and we don’t foresee any changes.”

There were no incidents on the track Saturday.

The next test for the new car is scheduled for  Jan. 17-18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.