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SPEEDWAY, Ind. — NASCAR officials say the results of the high drag package used in Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard will have to be broken down, studied and examined before any determination about the success, or lack of it, can be fully understood.
Those competing in the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway have already formed their opinion.
“I think we were all expecting there to be more drafting than there was,” 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) said. “I don’t think the draft was much different than last year and the penalty for being behind someone in the corner was more significant.”
Keselowski finished 10th and led 17 laps on the day.
There were a significant number of lead changes, 16 in the 164-lap race, but the majority took place as teams cycled through green-flag pit stops or inherited the lead by staying out under the caution flag as they worked various fuel strategies.
“It’s terrible, that’s what I think,” Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing), said. “You just can’t pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can’t run though the corner with anything.”
NASCAR debuted a high drag package for Sunday’s race, one that featured a taller spoiler (measuring 9 inches high) and other aerodynamic changes to the cars. The hope was that the larger spoiler would provide more side-by-side racing, perhaps enhance drafting, and lessen the advantage enjoyed by the lead car. A similar package is scheduled for next month when the series travels to Michigan International Speedway.
But except for the few laps following restarts, drivers said they were mostly unable to race side-by-side for much of the event.
“I just didn’t like the way a car would drive loose behind other cars and tight in front of other cars,” Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kurt Busch said after his eighth-place finish. “That’s opposite of normal. And it really seemed odd the way they raced. I wish there was more of a draft, but those only pop up on restarts.”
Race winner Kyle Busch isn’t sold on the package, either, although he said there were some positives to take away from the experience.
“When I was by myself, I felt like (it) was a really good race car,” Busch, a winner of the last three Sprint Cup races, said. “I felt like I had the car to beat.
“But then when you got back in traffic, whether you were behind a guy or behind a group of cars, you were horrible. It was just absolutely so hard to handle in traffic.
“It’s not sometimes such a bad thing, but you don’t want to feel like you’re going off into the corner and you’re going to crash every time. … You want to have some sort of security. I think there’s something to be learned from today. I’m not sure it’s the right combination exactly, but I think there’s some benefits to it.”
None of the upcoming 10 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races will be contested on tracks where the high drag package is a viable option.
A lower downforce package, used at Kentucky Speedway recently, will be tweaked and used at Darlington later this year. But NASCAR officials have said there are no current plans to use that platform in the Chase.
“I didn’t like it as much as what we had at Kentucky, but it was something different,” JGR’s Denny Hamlin said. “We needed to try something different and it was an experiment. I just prefer the other (package). I think this makes too big of a wake for the car.”
Teams tested here at Indy in April, but not with the high drag package.
“To come back and have to race something different was a huge undertaking for the teams for a huge science project that probably didn’t really change that much,” said third-place finisher Kevin Harvick (SHR). “But everybody tried real hard, and in the end, I think our goal is more drafting and more pack racing, so we’ll see if we can get to that.”
