Intermediate track hosts opening event of 10-race Chase in September
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup doesn’t begin for another 10 weeks at Chicagoland Raceway, but a dozen teams are scheduled to be at the 1.5-mile track later this week for an open team test.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Hendrick Motorsports), Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing), Sam Hornish Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports) and J.J. Yeley (BK Racing) are participating in a two-day Goodyear tire test Monday and Tuesday.
They will be joined by Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates), Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing), Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing), Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing), Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing), Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) for the open test.
On Tuesday morning, Earnhardt Jr. tweeted that Hornish tested a high downforce package on Monday while a low downforce package was scheduled to be run on Tuesday.
While a lower downforce rules package similar to that used this past weekend at Kentucky Speedway isn't expected to be in play when the series competes at Chicago in September, any additional testing with the setup on the 1.5-mile track would give both Goodyear and the teams additional data going forward.
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At Daytona International Speedway earlier this month, Earnhardt Jr. said he was open to trying a different aero package for Chicago while testing.
"I think it's a great idea to go there and take whatever package they would like to try," the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. "Because it's a great opportunity … we will be there three full days."
Earnhardt said implementing the lower downforce package for the test didn't necessarily mean the package would be used in the opening Chase race.
"We will go through and see what happens up until the Chase with these different packages they want to try and then maybe come to a decision to change something in the Chase," he said. "But until then nothing in the Chase is really going to change as far as I've been told. I feel comfortable about that."
A similar rules package will be in play when the series travels to Darlington Raceway in September, and a high drag package is scheduled for races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway later this year.
The rules package in place for Saturday's race at Kentucky featured a shorter spoiler as well as changes to the splitter and splitter extension panel.
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While weather problems forced the cancellation of a scheduled extended practice on Wednesday at Kentucky, as well as qualifying on Friday, the 267-lap race featured a record number of green-flag passes throughout the field.
Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer for NASCAR, didn't completely close the door on the possibility of an aero change for any of the 10 Chase races, five of which will be contested on 1.5-mile tracks, when speaking with members of the media last week, saying, "All options for us are still on the table."
"Our position today is that these are the race packages and this is kind of where we're at for '15, but as those conversations take place over the next couple weeks, that could change," he said.
Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, O’Donnell said, however, that there were no plans to implement different aero packages for Chase races.
"We're going to stick with our plan," he said. "This was something that we developed with the garage area. What are the specific races that we can target together? Everybody feels really good about the plan that we have in place so we'll continue on that path. We're learning a lot this week as well as we take all the data from Kentucky. …
"There were some reasons why we picked the race tracks we did from a (preparation) standpoint, and (we) feel like we want to stick to the plan right now."
The opening Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20 at Chicagoland Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, MRN, SiriusXM). The other nine Chase races will be contested at: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.