NASCAR saps speeds as Talladega test wraps
Quote selected text Published September 12th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Speeds were down during the second and final day of Car of Tomorrow testing at Talladega Superspeedway on Tuesday, as NASCAR mandated a slightly smaller restrictor plate.
Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Paul Menard (193.095 mph) and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Busch (192.862 mph) had the fastest cars on the track during both morning and afternoon drafting sessions Tuesday. Johnny Sauter turned a lap at 196.195 Monday.
“It’s been a very well-spent two days,” said John Darby, Nextel Cup Series director. “Overall we’ve got the cars running real stable and, for the most part, comfortable for the drivers. This is a very different restrictor plate package than we’ve run here before. The new car and the new engine packages have produced a (31/32nd inch) restrictor plate, larger than what we’ve had here.”
Penske Dodge driver Ryan Newman said NASCAR seemed to make the right move by reducing the size of the restrictor plate as well as reducing the size of the wicker by one-quarter inch.
“The speeds were a little bit fast and they slowed the cars down,” said Newman, whose 191.39 lap was 19th-fastest of 55 cars in the afternoon session. “NASCAR did a good job with that.”
Third-fastest in Tuesday’s morning session was the Bill Davis Toyota of Jacques Villeneuve, the Formula One champion driver expected to run Cup full time in 2008.
“It has been a lot of fun to get out there with so many talented drivers,” Villeneuve said. “To be running in the middle of the pack with them is great, and the fact that they trust me enough to stay behind me is good.
“I have just been trying to learn the draft and learn what the other cars are doing. This is very different than anything I’ve done before. Thankfully I’ve driven on ovals when I was running in Champ cars about 12 years ago, so there are a few memories there.”
- NASCAR may slow Cup cars down as well at Talladega
- ‘Car of Tomorrow’ tests at Talladega today, some drivers less than impressed
- NASCAR makes plate change on Busch cars at Talladega as speeds climb
- Daytona wraps up rescheduled testing today, Rudd quickest
- The end of restrictor plates?
Wow, after reading about all the comments of the “washed up driver” , Jacques Villeneuve, yesterday, he goes and runs 3rd fastest at a super speedway. cant wait to see what comments follow today.
On video games, Talladega is the easiest one to run. Like a highway drive.
fred wrote:
Wow! A real sim racer!
Have you ever been above 70 miles per hour on a real highway? Do you own a car? Hmmmm, do you have a ‘real’ license?
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Talladega is what it is. It ain’t Bristol but it’s perfect for CoT testing. Alot of productive mechanical and engineering work was accomplished. If anyone got bored on the Talladega ‘highway’, it’s time to turn in your joystick(or maybe you’re real good and own a Momo).
3rd fastest in the draft??? it dont mean that much lets see how the toyota crap box runs buy its self! any ways not to worried about a toy doing to much damage atleast for another 2 years. like i said yesterday who cars!!!!! this going to be fun!
HRT, all your negative comments are going to upset Sam