News for March 15th 2010

Restrictor plate size will be key at Talladega as Sprint Cup teams test NASCAR’s new spoiler

NASCAR will use restrictor plates with larger holes than they have used in the past at Talladega Superspeedway Tuesday as its Sprint Cup teams test the new spoiler that is expected to replace the rear win in a few weeks.

The test will not only help teams figure out setups for the new spoiler but help NASCAR evaluate which restrictor plate to use with the new configuration.

The test Tuesday is the first open test for Sprint Cup teams with the spoiler, and they likely will start with a restrictor plate with holes of 1-1/32 inches (66/64ths) – 7/64ths of an inch more than the plates used last October and 3/64ths larger than the plate used for this year’s Daytona 500.

The spoiler is expected to replace the wing starting with the March 28 race at Martinsville Speedway, although NASCAR has not announced a firm start date yet. The spoiler will definitely be in use, however, for the April 25 race at Talladega.

The test Tuesday will run from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. EDT with single-car runs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and drafting from 2 p.m.-6 p.m.

“When you do all the math from the spoiler to the gear to the speed, you can compute what [restrictor plate] you think you should have, but we feel like it would be nice to have a confirmation of that so maybe if we have to adjust during the race weekend, it’s only once,” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said.

“We’ll ask them to use all the same size and if it looks good, we’ll press on, and if we have to adjust up or down, we will.”

Most teams are expected to attend the test. But not all teams are going as Richard Petty Motorsports is only sending Paul Menard and Roush Fenway Racing is only sending Matt Kenseth and David Ragan.

“It will be much like the Nationwide [new] car was at Talladega with the spoiler on the car,” said Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick. “The air will be a little bit sharper turbulence than what we saw with the wing.

“Just knowing exactly what we need for plates and things like that is important as well. It’s more of an information-gathering session. The cars will drive great. It will be more important for the engine shop and the engineers than it will for me.”

Teams will fabricate their own spoilers for the test, but NASCAR will end up issuing teams the spoilers for the races. Richardson Racing Products will be making the spoilers and they should be ready for the March 23-24 test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Darby said.

“I don’t think the test at Talladega is going to tell us a whole lot,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon said. “It is really the test in Charlotte that we are all very interested in.

“The fans seem to want [the spoiler] as well as it looks good on paper. Right now it looks like a win-win until we get out there and see what it does on the track.”

In addition to replacing the wing with the spoiler, the rear quarter panel of the cars will be extended by four inches from the front edge, leaving only seven inches instead of 11 between the ground and the front edge of the rear quarter panel.

“We have some things we’re going to try down there body-wise,” said Stewart-Haas Racing director of competition Bobby Hutchens. “We’ll see how that all falls out [at Talladega].

“The [Charlotte test] is the real important test to see if what we’re learning in the wind tunnel is correct.”

Edited: March 15th, 2010

Will Power wins wild Indy season opener in Brazil

Will Power’s late pass of Ryan Hunter-Reay gave him the lead and the win for the first IndyCar race of the season on the new street course in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The race seemed to be cursed from the beginning. In the first turn of the first lap there was a five-car pileup that left Mario Moraes’ car on top of Marco Andretti’s. Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves were also caught up in it.

The wreck was caused by poor visibility from a cloud of concrete dust. Track officials used diamond grinders Saturday night to fix problems with the concrete but a lot of dust remained.

Dario Franchitti led much of the race but the skies opened up and drenched the course. The race was red-flagged because even with rain tires the standing water was too much.

There were also problems with power outages as the timing and scoring function was down for a while. And, of course, if you happen to be a DirecTV customer — and thus unable to watch the Versus broadcast — you likely had a hard time if you were trying to watch the race online.

A decision was made to switch to a timed event instead of the scheduled 75 laps. After the restart Hunter-Reay had the lead but was passed by Ryan Briscoe. But then Briscoe put his car into the tire barrier, giving the lead back to Hunter-Reay.

Power, driving for Penske, passed him with just a couple laps left to win. Hunter-Reay was second, followed by Vitor Meira, Rafael Matos, Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Mike Conway, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.

Ana Beatriz, driving before her home country fans, finished on the lead lap, but Danica Patrick did not.

Edited: March 15th, 2010