Aerodynamic changes that helped #19-Jeremy Mayfield to a season-best 13th-place NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series finish in Atlanta last week led to a possible season-changing breakthrough during a test at Kentucky Speedway Thursday. After closing out last season 10th in the 10-race Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, the #19 team averaged a 23rd -place finish through the first three races of the season while working with the new Dodge Charger body and adjusted spoiler height mandated by NASCAR. When changes made for the Atlanta race led to improved results, Mayfield and his team made a commitment to further explore those changes by testing during the series off week. “We started the season with a lot of new Chargers and, with the new rules, we got a couple of races into it and thought, whoa, we need to rethink this whole thing,” Mayfield said. “We were trying to do something a little bit different.” Joe Gibbs Racing Driver #18-Bobby Labonte also tested in an attempt to rebound from the poor luck that has plagued him in three of the four series races. After losing an engine in the Daytona 500, Labonte rebounded with a 12th-place finish in the second race of the season in California. His resurgence was stopped cold when his involvement in early-race accidents in Las Vegas and Atlanta caused his plummet to 37th in the series standings.(Kentucky Speedway)(3-25-2005)
