Indy rules tweaks don’t see the same rave reviews as Kentucky
INDIANAPOLIS – The lower downforce tweaks NASCAR made at Kentucky were immediately lauded by many of the drivers. The higher drag changes made for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis did not receive the same enthusiasm.
The higher spoilers and other changes NASCAR made for the race didn’t seem to have a big impact on the race. The Brickyard has always been a race where track position is pivotal. The fact didn’t change with a nine-inch spoiler.
Joey Logano, who finished second to Kyle Busch, said he felt drivers had a three-lap window after restarts to make a pass. Drivers were able to make aggressive moves down the backstretch immediately after restarts before the field would start to string out.
“The draft on the straightaways, obviously, was larger for sure, but doesn’t make up for what we lose in the corners so it’s hard to make it happen somehow. I think we can fine-tune the package and maybe see something different, but for the most part it seemed like Indy out there to me.”
Matt Kenseth was quite succinct. He finished seventh.
“It’s terrible, that’s what I think,” Kenseth said. “You just can’t pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can’t run through the corner with anything.”
Spoilers were increased by three inches and other changes were made to the cars to increase the draft on Indianapolis’ long straightaways. The idea was that cars could catch each other and make passes before the track’s narrow corners that prevent cars from going side-by-side at maximum speed.
However, the turbulence created by the draft on the straightaways was negated in the corners. The air slows down the trailing cars. And, as a side effect, the higher spoilers and bigger rear bumper covers meant the cars were hotter than normal.
“Well, it was really hot and that is part of being a driver. I can’t complain because that is what I signed up for, Brad Keselowski said. “Besides that, I think we were all expecting there to be more drafting than there was. I dont think the draft was much different than last year and the penalty for being behind someone in the corner was more significant.”
The lack of passing ease was evident on the race’s restart with eight laps to go when Busch took the lead for the final time. He got a run past then-leader Kevin Harvick because he got a push from Joey Logano as the green flag waved. Martin Truex Jr. mistimed his push of Harvick and the No. 4 didn’t have as much momentum as Busch did. Once Busch got around him, Harvick couldn’t pass him back.
“We didn’t see what we wanted,” Truex Jr., who finished fourth, said. “They say they want a lot of drafting, a lot of pack racing. We didn’t have any of that today. It was near-impossible to pass.”
Busch did say there were benefits to the aerodynamic changes. But he was also speaking after visiting victory lane.
“Drafting is exciting, I would agree there is nothing more beneficial than to see a guy behind another guy gaining on him on the straightaways,” Busch said. “Instead of it being a horsepower race you can make it a drag race. That’s fun. But the thing that bothers us drivers is when you get to the corners you absolutely … today for instance, when I was by myself I felt like I was a really good race car and I felt like I was the car to beat”
“But when you got back in traffic, whether you were behind a guy or behind a group of cars, you were horrible. It was just absolutely so hard to handle in traffic and it’s not sometimes such a bad thing but you don’t want to feel like you’re going off into the corner and going to crash every time. That’s the thing, you want to have some sort of security. So I think there’s something to be learned from today. I’m not sure it’s the right combination exactly, but I think there’s some benefits to it.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
