Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch gets prime pick after topping the qualifying leaderboard

The pit stall assignments are out for Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS, SiriusXM) with pole sitter Kyle Busch getting his pick of the spots on pit road.

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Busch chose the pit stall closest to the exit of pit road heading into Turn 1. The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the XFINITY Series will have an opening in front of him leaving pit road. He is not the only driver with this advantage.

Busch’s teammate Daniel Suarez (starting second), Brendand Gaughan (starting fourth), Brian Scott (starting seventh) and Kevin Harvick (starting 16th) all have openings in front of them.

Gaughan, in the No. 62 Chevrolet, has the pit stall even with the start-finish line at the Brickyard.

 

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Driver will lead field to green in Lilly Diabetes 250 (4 p.m. ET, NBC)

RELATED: Full NXS Indy lineup

Kyle Busch set a record for NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, pacing the field at a clip of 180.527 mph to pick up his first pole of the season.

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Busch will start the Lilly Diabetes 250 (4 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS, SiriusXM) on the front row alongside teammate Daniel Suarez (180.415 mph). Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones was third on the docket at 179.928 mph and will start next to Richard Childress Racing’s Brendan Gaughan (179.087 mph).

The record ‘Rowdy’ broke was his own, set last year at 179.888 mph.

Former Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard paced the first session at 180.411 mph but slipped to 178.873 mph in the second session to qualify fifth.

All three JR Motorsports cars did not advance to the second and final round. Chase Elliott, Regan Smith and Kevin Harvick will start 13th, 14th and 16th, respectively. Alex Bowman, filling in for an ailing John Wes Townley in the No. 25, will start in between Smith and Harvick at 15th.

Tune in Saturday afternoon for the Lilly Diabetes 250 from Indy. Coverage begins on NBC at 3 p.m. ET.

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Chevrolet has a 12-win streak going at Indianapolis

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams have owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway, lock, stock and four-barrel.

They may no longer run carburetors in the series, but the switch to electronic fuel ignition has thus far failed to stymie the strength of the bowtie gang. Not when it comes to competing on the legendary 2.5-mile track. The past 12 trips here (this year it’s known as the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard, 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM) have ended with a Chevrolet driver in the winner’s circle.

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That may be about to change.

Toyota teams are rumbling. For just the second time here, a Toyota driver and team will start on the pole. Three others are sprinkled throughout the top 10. And Kyle Busch won Saturday’s XFINITY race from the pole in a Toyota.

"We started so slow yesterday (in practice) and we struggled," Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards explained after winning the pole with a speed of 183.464 mph.

It was bad enough, he said, that at one point during the day he and crew chief Darian Grubb could only look at each other and shrug their shoulders.

"We were looking at each other going, ‘What are we going to do here?’" Edwards, 35, said. "I’m so proud of my guys. … This is big."

Of course, it’s only the pole. Four hundred miles sit between Edwards and a potential trip to Victory Lane. The No. 1 qualifying spot comes with no guarantees.

Surprising David Ragan (Michael Waltrip Racing) will start third in a Toyota; teammate Clint Bowyer will go off seventh and Kyle Busch (JGR), winner of three of the past four Sprint Cup races, will start ninth.

Joey Logano, one of two Team Penske Fords in the field, will start alongside Edwards. Logano has his own incentives – the Daytona 500 winner has a shot to become just the second driver to sweep both the 500 and the Brickyard in the same season.

Toyota teams have won at 22 of the 23 tracks currently hosting Sprint Cup events. Indy has yet to be conquered. The manufacturer has won here before in open-wheel competition, but it is 0-for-NASCAR where Sprint Cup is concerned.

"I think (for) most drivers, manufacturers and teams there are two races that you would circle … as the biggest," David Wilson, President and General Manager, Toyota Racing Development, USA, said Saturday.

"It starts with the Daytona 500 and then I would have to say the Brickyard is next, if not on the same level."

From an engineering standpoint, Wilson said he puts more stock in the Brickyard.

"I’d say a win here is a greater achievement because of the nature of (restrictor) plate racing, you marginalize so much of the technology that goes into that race," he said. "Not to suggest I wouldn’t love to have a Daytona 500 win and hopefully one day we will, but to win here at the Brickyard it would be difficult to express how big that would be for Toyota."

Wilson has heard the numbers. He knows Chevrolet’s sterling record at Indy.

"Whether we win or not … what’s clear is that we are bringing cars that can win. Last year we finished second, third and fourth. There was one car that was better than us. But it was a lot better to us.

"I feel like, heading into tomorrow we can race with anybody out there on the race track and I don’t know that we’ve come here before with that level of confidence."

Edwards knows all about confidence. Posting only one top-10 through this season’s first 11 races wasn’t how he envisioned his start with JGR.

"This sounds kind of silly in hindsight, but I planned on going out and winning the Daytona 500, then going and winning Atlanta — I was on a mission and I think I got a little bit ahead of myself.

"Darian and I, to be completely honest, we just didn’t settle for running seventh where we probably should have ran that week; I was out there driving like a maniac and then we had a little bit of bad luck there with flat tires and all of a sudden here we are with no good finishes.

"Disappointed is a fine word; I don’t know if that’s a strong enough word for how I felt maybe 10 or 12 weeks into the season."

The No. 19 team enjoyed a breakthrough at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the Coca-Cola 600 and putting Edwards in line for one of this year’s 16 Chase for the Sprint Cup spots. Although his next five starts were 12th or worse, for the past two he’s finished inside the top 10.

"It allowed us all to relax," he said of the win, "and from that point … I think that has really helped us and given us a little more confidence and calm and it’s been good. …

"It has been a trial; I think in a way it’s been really good for me because I’ve had to dig deep and lean on my teammates and get back to the basics to get what needs to get done."

No other manufacturer enjoys such a stellar track record as Chevrolet at Indy. Edwards would be more than happy to see the streak come to an end.

"To be able to win here would be huge," he said. "Toyota hasn’t won one (here) yet. The JGR stable, which includes Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth as well as Edwards and Busch, "is fast," according to Edwards.

And obviously "our car is really fast," he said.

"It definitely could happen."

Posted on by Holly Cain

Winningnest owner at IMS yet to have driver win Brickyard 400

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — There are very few racing achievements still left on Roger Penske’s to-do list. 

But Sunday’s Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard represents a rare opportunity for Penske to accomplish one of the greatest feats in auto racing. A victory by one of his drivers Brad Keselowski or Joey Logano would give the legendary team owner the motorsports "triple crown" — also counting wins in the Daytona 500 (Logano) and Indianapolis 500 (Juan Pablo Montoya) earlier this year.

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Of course a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway would be special, triple crown or not.

Penske is the winningest Indianapolis Motor Speedway team owner (16 Indy 500 victories) in history but has amazingly been 0-fer at the track when it comes to NASCAR’s Brickyard 400.

Three times Penske was a runner-up with Hall of Fame driver Rusty Wallace (1995, 2000 and 2002), but the closest he’s been lately is Logano’s fifth place last season.

"Anytime we hear Indy coming up we start getting the calls from Roger," Logano said Friday between practice sessions at Indy.

"We really want to win this race. This is the one on his bucket list that he hasn’t gotten yet and we talk about it a lot. It would be very special to give him a Brickyard 400, along with the Indy 500 he won earlier this year up here and the Daytona 500 we won earlier, too. So this could be quite the trifecta if we could make it happen."

Keselowski actually delivered Penske his first NASCAR win on the famed Indy 2.5-miler — a 1-2 finish with then teammate Sam Hornish Jr. — in the inaugural XFINITY Series race in 2012.

Ironically, Penske was travelling and unable to attend the event — something Keselowski vowed to tease him about at the time.

The significance of Keselowski’s day was not lost on him.

"The Brickyard means so much to all of us as race car drivers and to the sport in general, and it transcends three different forms of auto racing, whether it’s IndyCar in the United States, F1 and their history here, and then obviously with stock cars and their initial time here to the current date, from ’94 on, it transcends into a special victory or a special place to race I should probably say," Keselowski said during his winner’s press conference.

Racing’s "triple crown" has only been achieved one time — in 2010 by Chip Ganassi, Penske’s longtime and well-respected rival in both NASCAR and IndyCar series. And it’s obviously very seldom even a possibility with the difficulty of winning both the Daytona and Indy 500-mile races.

Keselowski’s No. 2 Miller Lite Ford was second fastest in Friday’s second practice — the most promising of the two cars. Logano’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford finished 14th in the final practice, preparing for Saturday’s pole qualifying.

Both drivers were optimistic about their chances on Sunday. Motivation won’t be a problem.

"I don’t think you need any more incentive besides giving Roger Penske another win at Indy," Logano said. "You want to add your name to the list of guys that have won here for him. Every time I walk into the shop the first thing you see is all these Indy 500 trophies and the helmets that they wore when they won that race and the picture.

"We all want to come up here and give our best effort and try to execute the race the best we know how to and build the fastest cars we know how to before we get there, but we do that every week.

We do that for every single race track, but there’s just a little bit added for this one. It’s like going down to Daytona. You really wan to win the Daytona 500 because it’s one of the biggest races of the year. This is the same story, but it’s even a little bit more special I think for Team Penske than it is for everyone else."

Posted on by Holly Cain

Driver expects to be with Hendrick beyond 2015 season

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Insisting with a big smile that he was "home" for good, Jimmie Johnson told reporters Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that he fully expected to remain at Hendrick Motorsports with crew chief Chad Knaus and sponsor Lowe’s.

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In fact, Johnson was so confident in the final outcome of his current contract negotiations, he wasn’t even sure of all the details.

"We still have, is it next year on our contract? I don’t even know. … We are obviously not concerned," Johnson said.

"We have been getting things buttoned up with Lowe’s, with Hendrick, with Chad and myself, all of that. Like I said, I think last week, I’m home, it’s just a formality at this point to get everything kind of finished up and done."

Johnson last signed a contract extension with Hendrick in 2009 that would carry him through the 2015 season. This new one will be the fourth contract he’s had with the team since his Cup series debut in 2001, and it’s the only organization he’s ever driven for at NASCAR’s elite level.

Lowe’s has been with him as a sponsor for the long haul as well, signing a two-year extension in 2013 to coincide with Johnson’s contract terms.

When Johnson signed his last contract, team owner Hendrick proclaimed, "We’ve caught lighting in a bottle with this combination" and promised more success.

He was correct in his prediction as Johnson went on to win his fifth and sixth Cup titles (in 2010 and 2013), leaving him one shy of Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most championships all-time.

Johnson currently leads the series with four victories through 19 races this season and sits fourth in the points standings entering Sunday’s Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard, where he has four wins and finished first (2012) or second (2013) in two of the last three years.

Posted on by Staff Report

He also makes his driving finale in Iowa XFINITY Series race

RELATED: Iowa to mark Wallace’s last start | Matt will race against uncle Kenny

The Iowa race weekend is becoming a Wallace family festival, with Kenny Wallace adding grand marshal for the #ThanksKenny 150 to his duties.

Wallace announced earlier that the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Iowa on Saturday, Aug. 1, would be his last start. And he will be joined in that race by fellow driver Matt Wallace, Kenny’s nephew and Mike’s son.

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The US Cellular 250 presented by New Holland will be Matt Wallace‘s second start in a national series.

Kenny Wallace, the all-time leader in career NASCAR XFINITY Series starts (546), will say those famous words at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East/West race Friday night, July 31 at 9 p.m. ET. The K&N Series also is honoring Wallace by naming the 150-miler the #ThanksKenny 150 as a tribute to Wallace’s 26-year NASCAR career.

"When Kenny revealed that his last NASCAR race would come at Iowa Speedway, we gave serious thought to how we could best recognize his accomplishments. We knew we had to put together a celebration as big as his personality," said Iowa Speedway President Jimmy Small. "It doesn’t get much bigger than having a race named in your honor. That is something that will live on as long as we keep records, and Kenny Wallace is a person who is truly deserving of that distinction."

As grand marshal, Wallace will say the four most famous words in racing — "Drivers, start your engines!" prior to the start of the race. Following the race, Wallace will be in Casey’s General Stores Victory Lane to present the trophy to the winner.

"I love connecting with fans from all over the world on social media sites, so when I was told about the hashtag (#ThanksKenny), it really made me smile and laugh at the same time," said Wallace, who announced on Twitter he would be piloting the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing at the in the U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by New Holland (Aug. 1, 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, MRN, SiriusXM).

"I’m really excited to give the command to ‘start your engines’ on Friday night. That’s definitely something new for me," Wallace said. "But I already have a plan on how I’m going to say it, and of course it will be funny."

Wallace has served as a NASCAR analyst for FOX Sports, appearing on FOX Sports 1’s "NASCAR RaceDay" and "NASCAR Victory Lane" programs. He also does a "Herman Unplugged" feature, offering his opinions on the hot topics in the sport, for NASCAR Illustrated that appears on NASCAR.com.

The No. 20 XFINITY Series car has seen five drivers take turns behind the wheel this season for JGR. Erik Jones has made nine starts, Matt Kenseth three, Denny Hamlin three and Ross Kenseth and David Ragan have each made one start in the car. Jones won at Texas, while Hamlin won at Richmond and New Hampshire.

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August’s Pocono race will mark his 2015 NCWTS debut, joined by Harvick

RELATED: Harvick set to race at Pocono Mountains 150

Kyle Busch will make his return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Aug. 1 for the Pocono Mountains 150.

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RELATED: Truck Series entry list for Pocono

Busch missed the first three months of NASCAR racing due to severe leg and foot injuries he suffered in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener. In his comeback, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had an impressive few months of racing on both the Sprint Cup and XFINITY sides and is looking to, once again, top the Camping World Truck Series leaderboard.

With a total of 42 wins, 79 top fives, 99 top-10 results and 16 poles, Busch is hoping to add to his impressive Camping World Truck Series statistics this August.

Busch’s last Camping World Truck Series win was in October during the 2014 WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 at Texas, where he led for 80 laps.

The Aug. 1 race will only be Busch’s second time racing at the Tricky Triangle in the Truck Series. The first time was in 2011 when he started and finished second behind Kevin Harvick.

Coincidentally, Harvick will also make his 2015 Camping World Truck Series debut at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track next month, driving the No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

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Suarez able to hold off first practice leader Kyle Busch

SECOND PRACTICE: Full results

Daniel Suarez topped the XFINITY Series final practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon with a fastest lap of 176.810 mph in 50.902 seconds. 

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Suarez was sixth fastest in the first practice Friday morning, improving his fastest lap time by more than one second in the second round.

Kyle Busch, who posted the top speed in Friday’s first session, was second this time, clocking in at 175.466 mph (51.292 seconds).

Kyle Larson drove the HScott Motorsports No. 42 Chevrolet posting a fastest lap of 174.907 mph and Erik Jones’ Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota was fourth on the leaderboard with a lap of 174.842 mph.

Rounding out the top five for practice No. 2 was Brian Scott in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (174.432 mph).

Kevin Harvick, who is pulling double duty in the Sprint Cup and XFINITY races this weekend, had some troubles with his No. 88 Chevrolet and finished 18th during the second session.

The reigning Indy champ, Ty Dillon, had more success during the second session than the first, clocking in a seventh-fastest lap of 174.125 mph. Dillon said his No. 3 Richard Childress Chevrolet car was, however, too tight the entire practice and needed to be worked on before the qualifying round.

The XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying is set to start Saturday at 11:35 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Network.

OPENING PRACTICE: FULL RESULTS

Last year’s Lilly Diabetes 250 runner-up, Kyle Busch, topped the leaderboard in Friday’s first practice for NASCAR XFINITY Series with a fastest lap of 178.717 mph (50.359 seconds). 

Busch, who missed the first three months of the season with severe leg and foot injuries in a crash in the XFINITY opener, has had an impressive summer of racing with back-to-back wins on the Sprint Cup Series side and a victory in the XFINITY Series in June.

With a new aerodynamic package set for this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, drivers were able to put into practice the much-talked-about changes for the first time.

Paul Menard was second-fastest, clocking in at 177.845 mph. In all of Menard’s three NASCAR XFINITY Series’ starts at Indy he has finished in the top-10. On the Sprint Cup side, he has his only premier-series win at the rectangular track.

Erik Jones rounded out the top three with a fastest lap of 176.139 mph. This weekend marks the first time the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver will race at Indy.

Kyle Larson (175.967 mph), Ryan Blaney (175.654 mph) and rookie Daniel Suarez (175.394 mph) rounded out the top six in the first practice round.

The new rules package is designed to promote more side-by-side racing at Indy, a track notorious for difficult passing. The biggest aerodynamic change was to the rear spoiler, which was raised to a 9-inch height.

GALLERY: What the new spoiler looks like at Indy

Although the new high-drag rules package has gotten mixed reviews, veteran XFINITY Series driver, Brendan Gaughan, said he didn’t see a huge difference.

Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet was eighth-fastest in the first practice with a fastest speed of 175.104 mph.

Last year’s winner, Ty Dillon, was 16th-fastest after dealing with some engine issues early in the session.

On-track action for XFINITY Series continues at 2:30 p.m. ET for the final practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Jr., Hamlin also topped Friday’s practice leaderboards

RELATED: See the new spoiler at Indy this weekend

Practice 3: Full results

Kurt Busch led the final Sprint Cup Series practice on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network/Live Extra, SiriusXM).

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The Stewart-Haas Racing driver jumped to the lead near the end of the final session, putting up a high speed of 181.987 mph.

Coming up short in speed to the No. 41 driver was Kevin Harvick (181.763 mph).

Kyle Larson (181.357 mph), Jimmie Johnson (180.697 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (180.672 mph) rounded out the top-five fastest on the leaderboard. 

Denny Hamlin led the series’ first practice at the Brickyard, but fell to 31st-fastest in the final round.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also led a practice session, but was 32nd-fastest, right behind Hamlin, in the closing run.

Jeff Gordon, the defending race winner, finished 23rd-fastest in the final session. 

The Sprint Cup Series takes the track at the Brickyard for the Coors Light Pole Qualifying session tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Network/Live Extra).

Practice 2: Full results

A fast lap of 181.466 mph sent Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 soaring to the top of the leaderboard early during Friday’s second practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver found more speed in this session, having posted a high speed of 181.046 mph (ranked seventh) in the opening session this morning at the Brickyard.

Team Penske‘s Brad Keselowski came up just behind Earnhardt, scoring a fast lap of 181.448 mph in his No. 2 Ford to snag the second spot.

Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne ranked third (181.408 mph), while Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ Kyle Larson (181.378 mph) and Michael Waltrip Racing‘s Clint Bowyer (181.331 mph) rounded out the top five.

Last year’s Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon showed speed again in this session, propelling around the famed speedway at 181.189 mph to earn the sixth spot.

Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick was 14th-fastest, rounding the Indiana track at 179.583 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

Reigning XFINITY champion Chase Elliott — who will be making his fourth Sprint Cup Series start in Sunday’s 400-mile event — clocked a fast lap of 178.798 mph in his No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, giving him the 17th-fastest speed in the field.

After topping the opening practice, Denny Hamlin ran into trouble early in the second session when the hood of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota flew up and hit the windshield. The bizarre occurance — which NASCAR determined was caused by the hood not being properly pinned down — brought out the caution for debris. His No. 11 team replaced the hood and the windshield and Hamlin returned to the race track to score the 12th-fastest speed.

Paul Menard‘s No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet returned to the track after hitting the wall during opening practice. The 2011 Brickyard 400 winner ranked 22nd on the leaderboard.

Practice 1: Full results

Denny Hamlin rose to the top of the leaderboard Friday morning in opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice as teams got their first taste of a new aerodynamic package at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hamlin drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a fast lap of 182.208 mph on the 2.5-mile track. The 34-year-old driver won the Coors Light Pole Award at the Brickyard in 2012.

Jimmie Johnson, a four-time Brickyard winner, managed the second-fastest lap at 181.796 mph in the 85-minute session, but the show of speed was tempered by a fuel-pressure issue that brought the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet to a halt on the track at the 50-minute mark of practice. He was pushed back to the garage with help from the No. 14 Chevy of Tony Stewart.

Defending Sprint Cup Series champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick was third-fastest at 181.756 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet in preparation for Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM).

Five-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon was fourth-fastest at 181.444 mph in preparation for his final race at the historic speedway. Gordon prevailed in the inaugural NASCAR race at Indy in 1994 and triumphed last season to top the series’ all-time win list at the 2.5-mile track.

Stewart, a two-time Brickyard winner, completed the top five on the leaderboard.

With new aero devices in place to make the cars less smooth through the air, Hamlin’s speed was significantly slower than Matt Kenseth‘s 186.285 mph lap that led first practice at the Brickyard last year. The lap was also off the 188.470-mph pace set by Kevin Harvick in Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Indianapolis in 2014.

The new high-drag rules package was designed with the hopes of promoting more side-by-side racing at the rectangular track, where passing has typically been difficult. The biggest aerodynamic change was to the rear spoiler, which was raised to a 9-inch height and capped by a new wicker bill on top.

Though a portion of the larger spoiler is made of clear, hard Lexan plastic, a handful of drivers — Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano among them — complained of some visibility issues in their rear view.

Chase Elliott, set to replace Gordon as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet next season, was 15th-fastest in preparation for the fourth Sprint Cup start of his career. His No. 25 Chevy from the Hendrick stables clocked a best lap of 179.939 mph.

Former Indianapolis winner Paul Menard scraped the outside retaining wall at approximately the 30-minute mark, causing slight damage to the right side of the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet. After repairs, Menard was able to return to the track, setting the 21st-fastest lap.

Two more practices are scheduled Friday for the Sprint Cup Series — 1-2:25 p.m. ET and 4-5:55 p.m. ET, with both broadcast on NBC Sports Network. Coors Light Pole Qualifying, which will use single-car runs to set the 43-car field, is scheduled Saturday at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Nascar

Drivers give feedback on new rules package at Indy

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — There was the unexpected stall on track by six-time champion Jimmie Johnson in the opening session and the hood on the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin that disintegrated just as the second practice got underway, but neither were related to the new high drag aerodynamic package that debuted Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams began preparations for Sunday’s Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard with a taller spoiler (9-inches), a 1-inch wicker bill, as well as changes to the splitter and splitter extension panel.

The move could improve passing on the narrow, 2.5-mile track. But the jury was still out after nearly five hours of on-track activity Friday.

"Passing will be tough to say the least," Hamlin, fastest in the first of three sessions, said. "We’re trying something new. I can’t fault (NASCAR) for trying – they tried what we wanted to try and I thought we had a pretty successful race (at Kentucky) and now we’re trying something different.

"We’ll see if it’s better or not. Still, here is a very tough race track. This is a one-groove race track where it’s definitely been tough to pass here for 15 years or as long as I’ve been here. It’s just going to be one of those tough tracks." 

Johnson’s troubles were the result of a faulty fuel pump. Hamlin’s miscue came as a result of hood pins that weren’t properly secured. Other than a spin here, a brush with the wall there, it was a day most spent trying to find the balance between speed and drivability. Some found it; some are still searching.

NASCAR rolled out a low downforce setup for the Kentucky race, and while the tire provided wasn’t built specifically for the package, the results were generally favorable. 

A version of the Indy package, which will also be in play next month when the series returns to Michigan International Speedway, was tested briefly last year.

Because of the uncertainties, teams were allowed one engine change prior to Saturday’s qualifying and also ran their practices with on-board data acquisition systems. 

Teams were instructed to bring four different gears to Indy for possible use, starting with a 3.70 before giving option of 3.70 or 3.75 gear for the second session. By the final practice, the options were 3.75 and 3.80. 

"I honestly think until we get into the race on Sunday that it’s hard to get anyone’s true opinion on what we are going to have," Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) said. "… I really don’t. To me on Sunday when you get two cars side-by-side with this package the guy in third is going to have an extra engine. It’s going to be crazy the amount of speed that he is going to have. I don’t know, the restarts are going to be pretty wild, I think."

Teams did take part in an open test here in April, following a two-day Goodyear tire test. But the high drag package was not a part of those tests. 

The data gathered months ago isn’t completely useless, Team Penske driver Joey Logano said, but much of it no longer relates.

"I think a lot of that transfers over, but there is still quite a bit of difference," he said. "When you look at your wedge or your track bar or nose weight — those three things for sure, maybe rear springs — those changed probably the most when you have a package that’s so different than what they tested here or what we ran last year even. 

"We’re just trying to find a balance for those three and those … are a challenge enough, but obviously there’s a lot more to that package than just that." 

A day that began for teams at 6:30 a.m. ended with most sifting through data, changing engines, and "basically totally re-prep your car," Team Penske competition director Travis Geisler said. "This was a hell of a day."

What, if anything, was learned?

"I think it’s definitely going to take guys being forced into situations, which is what the race does, to make things happen," he said. "Something that just never happens in practice. You can’t force guys to do that. …

It is, he said, "a lot of the reason why NASCAR has gone in the direction of ‘hey, we’re going to go to the race track and see what happens.’ 

"We’ve all spent a lot time, energy, resources on going to large scale tests and you still just never generate the motivation for guys to put themselves in uncomfortable positions.

"There has to be something on the line and I think kissing the bricks is as much on the line as guys can get."

Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing) led the final practice. 

Coors Light Pole qualifying (NBCSN) to set the 43-car field is scheduled to being at 1:10 p.m. ET Saturday.