BROOKLYN, Mich. — NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell announced Friday at Michigan International Speedway that the rules package for the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will not include either the low-downforce package or the high-drag package.
The low-downforce package was used in June at Kentucky Speedway, and will be in use next month at Darlington Raceway.
The high-drag package is being used this weekend at Michigan International Speedway, and O’Donnell spent time with drivers, teams and manufacturers following Friday’s qualifying to gather feedback.
“The specific topic we wanted to cover with the industry was regarding the Chase, and our decision to keep the 2015 rules package as it is for the Chase and a lot of discussions we had with the industry, that includes a number of folks: The tracks, the drivers, the race teams, the OEMs, all believe that that was in the best interest of the sport,” O’Donnell said. “Excited about the Chase, excited about the package and what’s to come in the Chase, especially when you look back to last year. So that was really the main point we wanted to talk about.”
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O’Donnell said the intention all along was to keep the Chase where it was with the 2015 rules package, but some teams wanted to push forward after getting a look at the packages used at Kentucky and Indianapolis. But instead the sanctioning body will gather information from Sunday’s race at Michigan and the Labor Day weekend race at Darlington and use that when formulating the 2016 rules package.
The Kentucky race in particular garnered positive feedback, with Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards saying at the time that he was sold on it even after just one look in the Quaker State 400. That wasn’t lost on NASCAR.
“So absolutely a lot of great things happened during that race, but that was one race and one that we want to learn from and take forward and apply what we can to Darlington and do the same thing,” O’Donnell said. “So I would say a ton of positives we saw from Kentucky, but we’ve got to take the time to dial those things in and make sure that everybody is on the same page. We’ve got the best package to put forth, especially as we look to ’16, so that does have a lot of momentum and lot of positives that we can apply to Darlington and then make some calls post Darlington as well.”
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As far as using more races or tests in the future to try out new rules packages, O’Donnell said he didn’t anticipate that would be necessary, that after Michigan and Darlington and more simulation tests and discussions with the major players that the sanctioning body would be in position to make a decision fairly quickly during the offseason. That in turn would give teams the needed time to make adjustments for 2016.
“I think the intent would be that we see what happens during the race here Sunday, talk to all of our partners, do the same in Darlington, and then take that information, have a direction, which we feel pretty good about where we may head based on what we’ll see on the racetrack, and then go in and do some sim work with all of our partners directionally on those packages to see if we can fine-tune that,” O’Donnell said.
Earlier this week, O’Donnell issued a pair of timelines for a pair of important decisions. One was the Chase rules package; the second was the 2016 schedule, which he said should be announced in three to four weeks.
O’Donnell said he did not anticipate major changes with the schedule. He cited the West Coast swing as a positive development in the 2015 schedule, along with attendance at Watkins Glen and Michigan. He said NASCAR would work on striving for consistency going forward.
O’Donnell also was asked whether there’d be changes for the October race at Talladega based on the wreck involving Austin Dillon at the July race at Daytona.
“We’re still having some discussion with the industry heading into Talladega,” O’Donnell said. “Have not settled on anything yet, but I think you can anticipate something.”
