Filed under: Crew Chiefs, NASCAR Testing, NASCAR
Teams will be issued smaller restrictor plates for NASCAR's upcoming Jan. 20-22 Goodyear Tire Test at Daytona International Speedway. And at least one Sprint Cup Series crew chief thinks it's a good idea to slow the cars on the newly paved 2.5-mile superspeedway."I think the decision was made to slow down the speeds because the speeds were too high at the first test,'' said Pat Tryson, veteran crew chief of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota.
"It's a good move on the side of safety because no one wants to see a car go airborne at the potential speeds that could be generated with the plate they had last month. It will be better for the driver and better for the fans in the stands. Safety always comes first.''
The new carburetor restrictor plate will have a 29/32-inch hole compared to the 30/32-inch hole the cars used last month in the first major test session on the fresh pavement. Speeds reached 197 mph in December with 17-car drafts.
"By slowing down the cars, it will make the draft bigger and tighter,'' Tryson said. " Before with a little more power, the cars would spread out a little bit. I think now, we can expect to see the cars a lot closer together and more in one pack versus two, three or four.
"It's going to make for some great racing for sure because I expect to see more three, maybe four-wide racing at Daytona which is exactly what we saw at Talladega Superspeedway. It's going to be a lot of fun for everyone to watch."
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