Regan Smith: 'I was pretty fired up'

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Staff Report

Regan Smith shared his view of the post-race fracas with Ty Dillon at Watkins Glen International last week, and he made no apologies for his actions.  

“I was pretty fired up after the race, and I feel like rightfully so,” Smith said on “JR Motorsports Up Front” on Dirty Mo Radio. “That’s the passion of our sport, that’s why we do it. We don’t do it because we go there to be all happy-go-lucky. We do it because we want to go out there and race hard and win. When you feel like you’ve been wronged, then sometimes you’ve got to handle it.”

Last Saturday following the Zippo 200, Smith stopped at competitor Ty Dillon’s car, leaned in and grabbed Dillon by the front of his uniform, confronting him about an incident between the two in Turn 1 on a Lap 40 restart. The two NASCAR XFINITY Series championship contenders pushed and shoved and shouted angrily at each other, promising retaliation down the road before NASCAR officials and various team members stepped in to separate them. Smith eventually was pulled away and made his way back to the garage area still fuming.   

The JR Motorsports driver offered some insight into his history with Dillon and the on-track incident that sparked his ire.

 ”I think from my perspective I’ve been on the receiving end on more than one occasion from that car,” he said. “And that’s the frustrating part and that’s the part that really builds. I think this year for the most part we have done a good job of racing each other hard, racing each other clean and kind of had an understanding of how we were going to run each other. I didn’t take very nicely to the move that was made on Saturday.

“I feel like and I don’t mean to say this arrogantly, but there are certain guys in our series that are very good at braking and in braking zones   … If you outbrake them, it probably means you have missed the corner, whether its a restart or whatever. For me to get in any deeper in that corner, I would have wadded the 22 (Brad Keselowski) up and wrecked him and the 33 (Paul Menard) likely. I don’t race that way. … On a road course, I feel like probably most of us, or the majority of the field has enough experience to understand that and realize that.”

The turn of events was even more frustrating for Smith because it was an example of yet another good run at a road course turned bad for circumstances out of his control.  

“If you look back at my two-and-a-half-years here, we have run top five at every road course, and run strong enough to … potentially win all of them,” he said. “That’s the most frustrating for me. We’ve got nothing to show from any of them. And it’s not by our own hand of making mistakes on our own.

“It’s been of other things and other people just doing boneheaded stuff that makes absolutely no sense to you. We could be sitting here talking about almost 10 straight top fives on a road course instead of ‘Wow, Regan never finishes good at a road course.’ That’s not the case. We are always up there, in the hunt and maybe that, sometimes that can be the curse. A lot of times you look at the top fives when these races are over and its guys that didn’t run near the top five all day long and that’s just how these things shape out sometimes.”

Heading into Mid-Ohio for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) Smith is fourth in the points standings, 57 points behind championship leader Chris Buescher. Dillon is tied with Smith’s JRM teammate and defending series champion, Chase Elliott for second place in the standings.   Smith says he thinks that circumstances will put he and Dillon together a bit this weekend.

RELATED: Latest series standings

  ”You can pretty much guarantee that we will qualify next to each other, ride on the same pack truck prior to the race. That’s how it works in NASCAR.”

And while Smith says he has not watched the incident, he is confident someone at JRM will make sure he sees it at some point.  

“I haven’t watched it, nor will I,” Smith later jokingly added, “I’m sure I’ll be forced to watch it at the Christmas party or at some point. I know I am not going to be able to get away from it.”

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Staff Report

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Tyler Reddick takes an 11-point lead into Saturday’s Careers for Veterans 200 Presented by Cooper Standard and Brad Keselowski‘s Checkered Flag Foundation at Michigan International Speedway (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM), an important race for his team and owner. But first before he looks ahead, he looked back Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at the race that put him back on top.

On Lap 6 of the Pocono Mountains 150, two-time defending champion Matt Crafton and Keselowski made contact, sending both trucks into the Turn 3 wall with finishes of 28th and 30th respectively. Crafton didn’t appreciate the former Sprint Cup champion’s actions and vowed Reddick wouldn’t win the 2015 title.

“That’s your Cup champion,” Crafton said. “That’s pretty much an idiot right there right-rearing the guy racing for a championship. I guess maybe hat’s the way he wants his 19 truck to win the championship, but they’ve got a long ways to come right now. I’m telling you that.”

Crafton later added, “He’s got another thing coming, I promise that truck won’t win it. If that’s the way he want to do it, we’ll get it done.”

As Reddick reflected on the August 1 race that saw a 25-point swing at the top of the title table after this third-place run, he saw the incident between the two NASCAR champions differently.

“I think if Matt Crafton took a second to think about it just like anyone else has that has seen it, he’d realize that he’s wrong and that it definitely was not an incident caused by Brad but an incident caused by Matt, his own mistake,” Reddick said. “But you know what, it’s a championship battle. It’s been tight and so it’s going to get stressful, it’s going to get more stressful as the year goes on. It’s a battle for the championship in the Truck Series. It’s a big deal.

“Everyone on their side and our side is really pumped. We really want to get that first championship for Brad Keselowski Racing. We kind of want to dethrone ThorSport and keep them from getting three in a row so we’re going to try and do that.”

At Michigan, Ryan Blaney will take over the No. 29 ride run by Keselowski at Pocono. Like his BKR teammate this season, Blaney took a points lead into Michigan last year. After he and Joey Logano started first and second, both had problems with their noses and finished 21st and 18th, respectively.

“Our trucks have been really good there,” Reddick said. “We had an unfortunate incident happen with our nose guards there last year, but our trucks are fast. We have speed about everywhere we’ve gone so far this year so we’ve just got to play it smart. It’s going to be a good race for us. We’ve got to stay out of trouble.”

It will be Reddick’s first race at the two-mile oval in the Irish Hills of Michigan, but with a win at Daytona to start the season and seize the points lead in the season opener before losing it to Crafton at Martinsville, he’s confident in his success on big tracks.

“I felt like most of my comfort came the fastest at the bigger tracks,” Reddick said. “Some of the smaller, technical tracks I felt like were going to be more difficult for me as I came into the Truck Series. So I feel like my strengths are on the bigger tracks, the plate and the mile-and-a-halfs.

“Michigan is a two-mile track (but) it’s a big mile-and-a-half, big really fast mile-and-a-half. But it is a two-mile track so we’ve been really good on the big tracks. Our guys have a really good package so I’m really excited to get there and feel it out for myself this time.”

While Reddick runs the DrawTite Ford, Blaney will sport the Cooper Standard Careers for Vets colors as the Cooper Standard Foundation and Brad Keselowski‘s Checkered Flag Foundation joins forces for the second year to sponsor the Michigan Truck race. This year, proceeds from the event will go to Macomb Community College in Keselowski’s home state as the institution looks to launch a veteran transition training program.

Cooper Standard has partnered with Inforum, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Manufacturing Institute for the curriculum, which will combine Inforum’s Next4Vets training with the NAM and the Manufacturing Institute’s Get Skills to Work program and form the foundation for Macomb’s veteran initiative.

As Reddick battles Truck Series veteran Crafton, he’s confident that his BKR team will deliver a title to owner Keselowski, who already has driver titles in NASCAR’s other two national series XFINITY (2010) and Sprint Cup (2012).

“It would mean the world to me, and when I say that, I speak for my team as well,” Reddick said. “They’ve worked very hard for this, and this championship is definitely what they want and I’m going to do everything I can for my team that they are doing for me to get that championship for them. It’s a big team effort, and we’re working our tails off for it.

“We could have fell back a little bit here in these last few weeks, but we haven’t. We’ve stayed true. We’ve stayed strong, and we keep nailing away at it. That’s what it’s going to take all the way to Homestead, and our team is definitely capable of it.

“We had a big jump going from our moving shops in the middle of the race season which is very tough and our guys did an outstanding job. We didn’t falter during that period. They’re working really hard. They’re definitely putting their dedication into it so I’ve got to do my part as well on my end to pay back and reward them for their great hard work.”

Posted on August 13, 2015January 26, 2024 by Staff Report

Keep this handy guide by your side when watching your next NASCAR race and you’ll be on top of the game and might even impress your friends:

Camber: The amount a tire is tilted in or out from vertical. Described in degrees, either positive or negative.

Dirty air: Aerodynamic term for the turbulent air currents caused by fast-moving cars that can cause a particular car to lose control.

Downforce: A combination of aerodynamic and centrifugal forces. The more downforce, the more grip a car has. But more downforce also means more drag, which can rob a race car of speed.

Drafting: The practice of two or more cars, while racing, to run nose-to-tail, almost touching. The lead car, by displacing the air in front of it, creates a vacuum between its rear end and the nose of the following car, actually pulling the second car along with it.

Drag: The resistance a car experiences when passing through air at high speeds. A resisting force exerted on a car parallel to its air stream and opposite in direction to its motion.

Driving into the corner: When drivers say they are having problems driving into the corner it means the car is not performing how they want it to (too tight or too loose) at the point where the car is entering the corner. How a driver approaches a corner could depend on strategy: trying to pass, gain speed, save tires or drive the shortest distance through the corner.

Groove: Slang term for the best route around the racetrack; the most efficient or quickest way around the track for a particular driver. The “high groove” takes a car closer to the outside wall for most of a lap, while the “low groove” takes a car closer to the apron than the outside wall. Road racers use the term “line.” Drivers search for a fast groove, and that has been known to change depending on track and weather conditions.

Loose: Also known as “oversteer.” When the rear tires of the car have trouble sticking in the corners. This causes the car to “fishtail” as the rear end swings outward during turns. A minor amount of this effect can be desirable on certain tracks.

Quarter-panel: The sheet metal on both sides of the car from the C-post to the rear bumper below the deck lid and above the wheel well.

Restrictor plate: A thin metal plate with four holes that restricts airflow from the carburetor into the engine. Used to reduce horsepower and keep speeds down. The restrictor plates are currently used at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Round (of wedge): Slang term for a way of making chassis adjustments utilizing the race car’s springs. A wrench is inserted in a jack bolt attached to the springs, and is used to tighten or loosen the amount of play in the spring. This in turn can loosen or tighten up the handling of a race car.

Short pit: The strategy of pitting well before running out of fuel, getting fresh tires to make up time on the leaders and theoretically taking the lead once those lead cars need to pit. Short pitting puts a car on an alternate pit cycle and could be beneficial or not depending in part upon how cautions fall the rest of the race.

Side drafting: When a car races alongside another car and “dumps” air flow from that car’s nose to the spoiler of the other car, causing the other car to lose momentum and allowing the side-drafting car to pull away. It’s a strategy used on larger tracks such as Talladega, Daytona and Michigan.

Slingshot: A maneuver in which a car following the leader in a draft suddenly steers around it, breaking the vacuum; this provides an extra burst of speed that allows the second car to take the lead.

Splitter: Runs the entire width of the car at the front and sometimes appears as if it’s touching the ground. What the spoiler does for downforce in the back of the car, the splitter provides downforce to the front. Damage to the splitter can be difficult to overcome because of the important role it plays in the aerodynamics of the car.

Spoiler: A metal blade attached to the rear deck lid of the car. It helps restrict airflow over the rear of the car, providing downforce and traction.

Tapered spacer: A metal piece that limits how much air gets into the engine cylinder, which in turn limits how much fuel can go into the cylinder and reduces the amount of energy produced.

Tight: Also known as “understeer.” A car is said to be tight if the front wheels lose traction before the rear wheels do. A tight race car doesn’t seem able to steer sharply enough through the turns. Instead, the front end continues toward the wall.

Track bar: A lateral bar that keeps the rear tires centered within the body of the car. It connects the frame on one side and the rear axle on the other. Also called the panhard bar.

Wave around: Cars can take the wave around when there is one to go under caution and the pace car turns its lights off. Wave-around cars are not permitted to pit until after the green flag comes back out and the race resumes. Wave-around cars restart at the rear of the field, but they are put in front of cars that have received a penalty.

MORE TECH TALK: Inside Track presented by Mobil 1

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Jason Lofing

Leads all 50 laps en route to back-to-back victories

Nick Ottinger (Gale Force Racing) put on a show at Watkins Glen International on Tuesday night, leading every single one of the 50 laps en route to his second victory of the season in the 2015 NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing. The TEAM’s Kenny Humpe finished second, more than seven seconds adrift of Ottinger. Last year’s winner Michael Conti (Drill Isle) was third, followed by Corey Vincent (Premere Motorsports Group) and PJ Stergios (Last Row Motorsports).

It only took a few laps after the drop of the green flag for the field to realize the fight would be for second unless Ottinger made a mistake. On fresh tires Ottinger was consistently two to three tenths a lap faster than every other driver in the field; quite the feat considering the competition.

Further back, the intervals between cars were closer but passing was not easy. Overcast conditions gave everyone’s car plenty of grip and made getting a run on the car in front all but impossible. The closest battle near the front during the first half of the race was between Conti and Stergios with Ray Alfalla (Slip Angle Motorsports) also joining the action.

During the first half of the race Conti appeared to be struggling with his race car as Ottinger and Humpe disappeared into the distance all while Stergios filled his mirror. As the halfway point approached, Stergios was the first of the frontrunners to make his pit stop in hopes of making up time on fresh tires. This brought Conti and Alfalla to pit road one lap later as they did not want to lose time to Stergios on their old tires. Conti led Alfalla by two car lengths onto pit road but Alfalla’s stop was faster and the two wound up side by side as they hit pit out. Neither Conti nor Alfalla wanted to give, and Alfalla ran wide on the access road and made hard contact with the wall.

Conti survived the pit road incident without any damage and set his sights on Stergios, who had passed him due to pitting a lap sooner. Conti’s one lap fresher tires were too much for Stergios to handle and Conti got the best of him under braking entering Turn One. Unlike the first half the race Conti’s car was running better and he began to pull away, comfortably in third. By pitting early, Stergios created another problem – a fuel shortage. In order to make it to the end he had to save fuel which allowed Vincent to take fourth near the end of the race.

Meanwhile, Alfalla was busy fighting his own battle with a damaged race car. Unable to keep pace with Conti due to the damage, Alfalla tried to salvage the best finish he could. Matt Bussa quickly caught Alfalla but could not complete the pass. Even with his damage Alfalla ran a smart, defensive line and came home sixth, just ahead of Bussa.

Back at the front it was clear sailing for both Ottinger and Humpe with little drama and lapped traffic. During the second half Ottinger continued his torrid pace even though he held a healthy margin while Humpe looked to maintain, knowing that with his points lead consistency is key at this point in the season.

Humpe’s second place finish combined with Alfalla’s minor trouble allowed the championship leader to further build his massive margin. With four races remaining Humpe’s lead is now 135 points over Alfalla and the championship is all but wrapped up. Chris Overland is third but fell to 27 points back of Aflalla due to a mediocre seventeenth place finish. Stergios is another 15 points behind, two markers ahead of Bryan Blackford who struggled much like Overland did on his way to a twenty-first place result.

Week 13 of the NPAS takes the drivers back to an oval as the series visits Phoenix International Raceway, the final short track of the season. The last short, flat track was Week Five at Richmond so it is anyone’s guess who will hit on the setup. Odds are Humpe will be quick, just as he has been all season. Can anyone challenge or will Humpe visit victory lane for the sixth time in 2015? Be turn to tune to iRacingLive and MRN.com in two weeks when the NPAS visits PIR!

Posted on August 12, 2015 by

It was 1981 when the Gabriel 400 at Michigan International Speedway saw a total of 47 lead changes, ending with Bobby Allison winning — but there’s much more to the story.

On Lap 196 out of 200, Allison jumped from seventh to first, stealing the lead from Darrell Waltrip. But this isn’t where the race’s craziness ended, it’s where it began.

Behind Allison on Lap 197, a six-car pileup occurred in Turns 1-2, involving Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Buddy Baker, Mike Potter, Cale Yarborough and Lake Speed. Waltrip had led a total of 54 laps, the race’s longest leader. Earnhardt had led a total of 37 laps.

Since the wreck occurred with just three laps remaining and green-flag-checkered finishes didn’t exist in 1981, the event ended under caution, deeming Allison the winner. The Hall of Famer would go on to win at Michigan one more time in his Sprint Cup Series career in 1982, ending with a total of four wins at the 2-mile track.

The 1982 victory was a thriller in which Allison outdueled Richard Petty to the stripe.

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Nascar

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will have at least one slight change in their entries for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

On Wednesday, the sanctioning body issued a bulletin that, among other things, calls for the installation of an additional NACA duct to be mounted in the right-side window.

Such ducts, used for cooling purposes, are currently installed in other window areas, and allow for airflow inside the car.

The change was made in reaction to high heat build up inside the car generated by the high drag package when it debuted at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. The same package is scheduled to be used this weekend at MIS.

The platform includes a 9-inch spoiler with a 1-inch wicker bill; a 2-inch leading edge on the splitter, a 43-inch splitter extension panel (often called the radiator pan) and a rear fascia extension panel similar to those currently used for superspeedway events.

Excessive heat build up created by the package is a concern for the toll it can take on the drivers as well as the cars according to 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.

“I would not be surprised to see a lot of car failures this weekend, specific to heat relation as it pertains to the aero package and its kind of cause and effects,” he said during a national teleconference Tuesday.

“And inside the car I would not be surprised to see a lot of hot and worn out drivers after the race. We all know we’re in for a handful of the race.”

Keselowski said the new package is expected to create more drafting, and that time lined up nose to tail will lessen the amount of air going over and around the car.

“And the speeds at Michigan are higher than they are at Indianapolis, which means the parts, specifically the drivetrain are going to be even hotter,” he said. “I know the team is very, very concerned about the drivetrain, everything from the engine all the way back to the axles because they’re really not made for these temperatures.”

Following the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Indy, at least three drivers received treatment for heat-related issues following the event, including race winner Kyle Busch.

Wednesday’s bulletin also states that one additional NACA duct may be used to provide air to the engine control unit (ECU).

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Nascar

Seven NASCAR XFINITY Series teams and one from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will lose 15 minutes of on-track time this weekend as a result of recent minor infractions.

According to NASCAR, the following XFINITY Series teams will serve 15-minute practice time deduction penalties during the opening practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, site of Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200: Richard Childress Racing No. 2 (driver Brian Scott), Team Penske No. 22 (Alex Tagliani), JGL Racing No. 26 (Tomy Drissi), Richard Childress Racing No. 33 (Brandon Jones), Jimmy Means Racing No. 52 (Joey Gase), Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 (Boris Said) and JR Motorsports No. 88 (Ben Rhodes).

The seven teams were penalized for issues arising at Watkins Glen this past weekend (late exiting garage).

The first practice for NXS teams at Mid-Ohio is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET Friday.

The JR Motorsports No. 00 Camping World Truck Series team will serve a 15-minute penalty in the opening practice at Michigan this weekend for an issue (falling out of inspection line) two weeks ago at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. The series did not compete this past weekend.

Opening practice for Truck Series teams at MIS is scheduled to get underway Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Sprint Cup Series driver Alex Bowman is scheduled to drive for the JRM team this weekend in Saturday’s Careers for Veterans 200 Presented by the Cooper Standard Foundation and Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation.

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Nascar

He has the best average finishing position overall, and the points lead. Now he hopes to build a little separation between himself and the rest of the field.

Heading back to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he scored his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series win last year, Chris Buescher likes his chances.

The Roush Fenway Racing driver has been atop the series points standings since earning career win No. 2, at Iowa, in a span of near one dozen races.

Next up is Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). It’s the second of three road-course stops in the span of a month for the series.

Given his success at Mid-Ohio, and a third-place run this past weekend at Watkins Glen, it’s little wonder Buescher, 22, is looking forward to the next few weeks.

“I really hope that road courses will be a strong point for us,” Buescher said. “I feel really comfortable going back to Mid-Ohio obviously. Road America (where he finished 18th a year ago) was the one where I needed a little bit more work.

“I think we should be able to run top 10 very easily there. I like road racing … I seem to hang in there and we seem to be able to put fast Roush Fenway race cars on the track.”

Road America, coming up at month’s end, falls later on this year’s schedule than in recent seasons when the race there was held in June.

Buescher doesn’t lead the series as far as average finish on road courses is concerned. In the past two seasons, he ranks fourth (12.8) along with Ty Dillon. Chase Elliott (5.3), Elliott Sadler (7.8) and Brian Scott (8.8) have been a bit more consistent.

But Buescher, crew chief Scott Graves and his No. 60 crew have been getting better. Not that there haven’t been hiccups, but the team has yet to finish outside the top 20 this season. They’ve been good, but not great, as the Watkins Glen finish attests.

“I like where we’re at right now,” Buescher said. “We have speed in our road course cars. The (Team) Penske cars showed up better than us (at Watkins Glen) though. They were very fast, class of the field. That being said, they always run fast at that particular track.

“Mid-Ohio, I don’t feel like there was a car there that really had something better than us last time around. If we can repeat that, maybe we can improve on it a little bit. I’m pretty comfortable where we’re at.”

Elliott, the defending series champion, trails Buescher by 24 points (724-700). Dillon (also 24 back), Regan Smith (minus-57) and Sadler (minus-58) round out the top five.

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Nascar

Roush Fenway Racing drivers Darrell “Bubba” Wallace and Ryan Reed have exchanged crew chiefs as well as crews and will being working with their new personnel beginning with this weekend’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex.

Chad Norris, previously crew chief for Reed, will move over to head up Wallace’s effort in the No. 6 entry while Seth Barbour, formerly with Wallace, will take over the reins of the No. 16 Ford team.

Roush Fenway Racing, co-owned by Jack Roush and Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, fields four full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series teams, as well as three full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams.

Chris Buescher, the organization’s third NXS driver, currently leads the series points standings after 20 events. His group, led by crew chief Scott Graves, was not affected by Tuesday’s moves.

Wallace, competing for Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award honors, is sixth in points with one top-five and seven top-10 finishes this season. He is a five-time winner in the Camping World Truck Series and has 26 starts in the XFINITY Series.

Barbour has one career win as a crew chief in the series, with he and Reed going to victory lane in the season-opening event at Daytona International Raceway.

Norris has three career wins in NXS competition — with drivers Matt Kenseth (2005), Marcos Ambrose (’11) and Bayne (’11).

The 2015 season is the second full-time effort for Reed, who has 59 career starts and one victory. He is currently 10th in points.

Norris “has a successful history working with several different drivers of all experience levels and we are excited to see Ryan … continue to develop under his guidance,” RFR President Steve Newmark said. “At the same time Seth Barbour provides tremendous engineering experience to all of our XFINITY Series programs and will bring great leadership to Bubba Wallace.”

Newmark said team co-owner Jack Roush “has a history of similar moves, and we have experienced a great deal of success in the past with these types of adjustments. We feel this will provide both teams with renewed energy as we enter the stretch run of the season.”

Sprint Cup drivers for the RFR group are veteran Greg Biffle, 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and two-time XFINITY Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. ET start.

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Nascar

NASCAR’s new high drag package gets its second shakedown of the season this weekend as Sprint Cup Series teams return to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the Pure Michigan 400.

The rules configuration debuted last month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and produced mixed results. While much data was accumulated, the competition on the relatively flat, 2.5-mile track appeared to be generally unaffected by the changes.

Changes included a 9-inch spoiler on the rear deck (increased from six inches) with a 1-inch wicker bill; a rear fascia extension panel similar to those used for superspeedway events, a 2-inch leading edge on the splitter and a 43-inch splitter extension panel (radiator pan).

“The original (aero) package … was for Michigan; we had built this package specifically for Michigan and then worked to implement it into Indianapolis,” Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer for NASCAR, told NASCAR.com on Tuesday. “We feel comfortable with the package we have set up … but we certainly learned some things at Indy.

“If we can improve the car in a more efficient manner, then we’re going to do that. We’ve talked to teams about what gear ratio should be implemented, and we’ll have some adjustments potentially for Michigan, and then that dialogue will continue Friday (at the track).”

Four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon expects the combination of speed and less front-end downforce on a trailing car, created by the taller spoiler on the lead car, to create excitement as well as uncertainty.

“I can promise you if you get in the corner behind somebody it’s going to be a white knuckle experience,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. “It was at Indy so I know it’s really going to be one at Michigan. You are going to be really searching for clean air.”

Gordon called the aero package “great if you are in a straight line.”

“It offers some really cool drafting opportunities and if you have some momentum that you carry off the corner it’s really cool,” he said. “As soon as you get behind a car and you need downforce, it takes it all away.

“A big wide track like Michigan, as long as we can get away from the cars in the corners I think that it has the potential to create that big draft and momentum down the straightaways which is what we are all hoping for.”

Former series champ Brad Keselowski said cars will need to be “staggered” to run different racing grooves through the turns at MIS “to try to keep your downforce in the corner when you need it to keep the car going through the corner as fast as possible.”

“At Indy,” the Team Penske driver said, “you don’t have a lot of width to really pull that off, but at Michigan I think there’s quite a bit more width to the track, especially down in Turns 3 and 4 to where you could possibly pull that maneuver off.”

Ray Evernham, the former crew chief who helped guide Gordon to three of his four titles, said the narrow racing groove and tighter corner radius at Indy led to more off throttle time but presented less room to make a move. At Michigan, “it’s multiple grooves and pretty wide.

“So I think they’ll get more of the passing they’re looking for,” he said.

Evernham said he doesn’t believe the current configuration is a “fix-all” as officials seek to dial in different aero packages for several venues hosting Sprint Cup Series events.

“I understand they have to have drag to keep the cars from running 200-plus mph and flying through the air, but I think if you take enough downforce off them they’re not going to be going that fast anyway no matter how big or how fast the motors are,” he said.

“You’ve got to have drag. I get that. But, if you can’t get to that throttle, you’re not going to use that … horsepower. I would like to see them continue to take more out. I think these guys are spending a lot of time and I know a lot of money doing nothing but wind tunnel and CFD and I just don’t think that’s healthy for the sport.”

NASCAR also debuted a low downforce package earlier this month at Kentucky Speedway. That package is scheduled to be used once more this year — when the Sprint Cup Series travels to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for next month’s BoJangles’ Southern 500.

Neither the high drag nor new low downforce package is currently scheduled for use in any of this season’s final 10 races that make up the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Goodyear: Same for Cup but NCWTS gets a tweak

Goodyear officials say the same tire combination used earlier this year at MIS will be used this weekend in the Sprint Cup Series. It will be just the second time this particular right-side tire has been provided at the 2-mile track.

Competitors in the Camping World Truck Series will see a change in the right-side tire, which should improve wear. It is the same combination used earlier this season at Kansas Speedway.

At Mid-Ohio, site of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200, XFINITY Series teams will use the same build of tire used there since 2013. The tire was also used this past weekend at Watkins Glen and will be used when the series travels to Road America later this month.

Wet weather tires will also be provided in case of inclement weather at Mid-Ohio, one of three road-course venues on which XFINITY Series teams will be competing during a four-week span.