News & Notes After Talladega Spoiler Testing
Twenty-four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams assembled Tuesday at Talladega Superspeedway in an R&D test session that was used to confirm that the gear ratio was compatible with the restrictor plate size for next month’s running of the Aaron’s 499 (Sunday, April 25, 1 p.m. ET).
The cars ran with the spoiler on the rear of the cars, as NASCAR announced in January that it was going to transition from the wing to the traditional spoiler sometime during the first quarter of this season. Teams started the day with a 1 1/32-inch sized restrictor plate.
For the majority of the morning session, the teams participated in single-car runs over the 2.66-mile superspeedway. However, five cars hooked up for some drafting shortly before the lunch break and the speeds picked up a bit, with Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) putting up the quickest time of 48.741 seconds or 196.467 miles per hour.
Teams began drafting in earnest after lunch. The plate size went down to 31/32” and the teams adjusted the size of their rear spoilers in order to find that happy medium between high speeds and handling.
“I think we are going to take some benefits from today’s test and be able to apply them down the road with this car and particular package,” said Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet). “I think the car looks really cool and I think you’re going to see some more great racing here at Talladega next month. You see it all here – you have pile ups, you have three-four wide racing, you have bump drafting and you have passes for the lead.”
A view of the spoiler on the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch during testing at Talladega Superspeedway. - Photos courtesy NASCAR Media
“We saw that the closure rates were a little too quick in the initial drafting session after lunch,” said Pemberton. “So, we had the teams make some adjustments, including going down on the plate size and trimming the spoiler back some. We believe we came away here today with a good starting point and are looking forward to coming back here next month with a great race.”
More than 1,500 fans participated in a Fan Q&A session during the lunch break. Sitting in the track’s newly renovated grandstands on the frontstretch, the fans heard from drivers Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet), along with NASCAR Managing Director of Competition John Darby. Some of the fans were seen waiting in line outside the gates as early as 6 a.m. Tuesday.
NASCAR also has a test planned next week – March 23-24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway – for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams to test the spoiler on a 1.5-mile race track.
My Two Centavos: If anyone thinks speeds of over 200mph average will occur during the next Sprint cup event in Talladega I have about a hundred acres of prime real estate to sell ya - on Mars.
The morning session was conducted using plates measuring 7/64 inches larger that those used for last October’s Chase event at Talladega and speeds were a tick over 12mph faster than the poll speed during the April Talladega event. (Fall quals were rained out)
Reportedly, and very unoffcialy speeds topped 213 on the long back-stretch, that ain’t gonna happen again no matter what anyone tells you. Look for a smaller plate to bring speeds back to the 185-188 range.
For my money I’d cut them to about 175, but that’s just me.
Top ten speeds during morning session:
Car # Make Best Tm Best Spd
1. 48 Jimmie Johnson Chv 48.741 196.467
2. 24 Jeff Gordon Chv 48.780 196.310
3. 83 Brian Vickers Tyt 48.905 195.808
4. 82 Scott Speed Tyt 48.936 195.684
5. 14 Tony Stewart Chv 48.958 195.596
6. 2 Kurt Busch Dge 50.581 189.320
7. 09 Aric Almirola Chv 50.751 188.686
8. 20 Joey Logano Tyt 50.836 188.370
9. 11 Denny Hamlin Tyt 50.838 188.363
10. 98 Paul Menard Frd 50.847 188.330
Top ten speeds during afternoon session:
Car # Make Best Tm Best Spd
1. 11 Denny Hamlin Tyt 47.366 202.170
2. 20 Joey Logano Tyt 47.438 201.863
3. 83 Brian Vickers Tyt 47.841 200.163
4. 00 David Reutimann Tyt 47.909 199.879
5. 18 David Gilliland Tyt 47.914 199.858
6. 48 Jimmie Johnson Chv 47.928 199.800
7. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chv 47.930 199.791
8. 56 Martin Truex Jr Tyt 47.939 199.754
9. 78 Regan Smith Chv 47.962 199.658
10. 98 Paul Menard Frd 47.969 199.629
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If anyone thinks that spoiler is better looking then the wing, they need their eyes checked. I’ve always thought they were ugly. Any backyard road warrior could fab a better looking aero device then that.
Having said that, the functionality of the spoiler vs. the wing has become apparent in the few years the wing has been around. Why else would they bring it back? Competition and safety should be paramount regardless of how “butt” ugly that spoiler looks.
Well, George I couldn’t care less which one they use, and in fact believe the entire switch is based on aesthetics and not performance or safety.
The crowd of young NASCAR fans are all tooling around in rice burners with wings hanging on the ass-end so where’s the problem.
Hey Marc,
I personally am glad they went back to the spoiler, maybe there won’t be a big change in car handling, hopefully it will help from flipping when the car gets backwards.
I just like the old traditional spoiler. I couldn’t stand it when they went to the wing it just didn’t look right.
Bob, did having a spoiler all those years stop car from going over?
No they didn’t, in fact almost every year at least one Sprint Cup or NNS driver ends up on his head.
Yeah if you look back I your right the cars were turning over with the spoiler also. Guess I’m old fashion just like spoiler better.
In a way I’m old fashioned too, but have learned to be more pragmatic.
That and having an interest in so many other types of racing has taught me a race car is a race car regardless how it’s designed.