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Kurt Busch wants NASCAR to take away even more downforce while Matt Kenseth would be OK if NASCAR did away with testing.
Jimmie Johnson was among those who were just glad to get back behind the wheel and “knock the rust off.”
The three former Sprint Cup Series champions, along with another in Brad Keselowski, took part in a two-day Goodyear tire test Tuesday and Wednesday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Goodyear officials continue the process of adapting a new tire to the lower downforce rules package that teams will be running at the majority of races in 2016. Teams continue to fine-tune the changes to the aero package, which initially curbed downforce by roughly 1,000 pounds.
Teams used a similar package last season at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
“I think all of the work that’s been done, and the two races that we raced last year … was in a positive direction,” Busch, driver of the No. 41 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, said. “I believe the direction of lower downforce is better, but I’d like to see us take another chunk of downforce away come July. Because with the technology that the teams have, we’ll be right back to where we are now with the downforce decrease because we’re able to increase it with wind tunnel time and simulation models.”
Speeds during the test were faster than anticipated, Johnson said. The six-time series champion took part in a similar test last season at Kansas Speedway and said tires used for that test had more falloff, slowing lap speeds during the course of a run. That wasn’t the case at Las Vegas.
“With these cool conditions and the surface here being so good still, it’s been tough to create the falloff that we’re looking for,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. “Bottom line is we’re just fast. We’re really fast.
“When we took downforce off the car, they’ve lowered the gear ratio, a lot of things to kind of slow the cars down and we’re every bit as fast if not faster than (with) the combination they had last year. … Obviously when we come back for the race, the sun will be out, hopefully we’ll get the falloff we’re looking for, the track will lose some grip and be slick but right now it’s fast.”
This week’s test was the first of the year. NASCAR teams head to Daytona International Speedway next month to officially begin the ’16 racing season.
Additional Goodyear tire tests are currently scheduled at eight other tracks for ’16; open team tests get underway in July at Indianapolis, with stops at Watkins Glen, Chicago and Homestead as well. A single-day open test is on tap for March 3 at Las Vegas, prior to that track’s NASCAR weekend.
“There was so much testing last year, it’s funny because they banned (private) testing everywhere but then with the few different aero packages they had last year they just scheduled so many tests I felt like in a way we tested more last year than in years past,” Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, said.
While he admitted testing is important, Kenseth said he would have no qualms about doing away with testing altogether.
“I’d like the testing banned,” he said. “I wish there was (fewer) tire tests. I think less testing is probably better for everybody. I think it’s better for the competition and the on-track product as well. Sometimes some people are going to get it and some people aren’t and it kind of mixes the field up a little bit.”