NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday morning that a decision on the size of the restrictor-plate that will be used in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 will be made after practice this afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday’s race will be the first at Talladega with a blade rear spoiler instead of a wing on the new-generation Sprint Cup car at a restrictor-plate track. With the new aerodynamic package, it remains to be seen what speeds the cars will run at on the track. If the cars lap the 2.66-mile superspeedway at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour in the draft, NASCAR will mandate the use of a smaller restrictor-plate during Sunday’s race. Conversely, if speeds are slower than anticipated, a larger plate could be used. Pemberton said that NASCAR has adjusted plate size between practice and the race before, so this is not setting a precedent. “The good news is, it’s a beautiful day, so we should be able to get plenty of drafting in,” said Pemberton. There will be two rounds of Sprint Cup practice today, a 45-minute session beginning at 2:00pm/et, and a one-hour session at 3:30 pm/et. Both will be televised live on SPEED.(SPEED)(4-23-2010)
UPDATE: NASCAR will continue using the 15/16th-inch restrictor plate that teams used in the first two practice sessions Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. Sprint Cup Series officials met to discuss the plate size after the final practice, where the top lap speed was Jeff Burton’s 199.467 mph, but decided to keep things the same.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010)
UPDATE no change: NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday morning that a decision on the size of the restrictor-plate that will be used in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 will be made after practice this afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday’s race will be the first at Talladega with a blade rear spoiler instead of a wing on the new-generation Sprint Cup car at a restrictor-plate track. With the new aerodynamic package, it remains to be seen what speeds the cars will run at on the track. If the cars lap the 2.66-mile superspeedway at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour in the draft, NASCAR will mandate the use of a smaller restrictor-plate during Sunday’s race. Conversely, if speeds are slower than anticipated, a larger plate could be used. Pemberton said that NASCAR has adjusted plate size between practice and the race before, so this is not setting a precedent. “The good news is, it’s a beautiful day, so we should be able to get plenty of drafting in,” said Pemberton. There will be two rounds of Sprint Cup practice today, a 45-minute session beginning at 2:00pm/et, and a one-hour session at 3:30 pm/et. Both will be televised live on SPEED.(SPEED)(4-23-2010)
UPDATE: NASCAR will continue using the 15/16th-inch restrictor plate that teams used in the first two practice sessions Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. Sprint Cup Series officials met to discuss the plate size after the final practice, where the top lap speed was Jeff Burton’s 199.467 mph, but decided to keep things the same.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010)
