Drivers are optimistic that a lower downforce, softer tire package tested at Michigan International Speedway Monday will work for a full field of 43 cars. NASCAR directed nine teams during a test for potential new rules for 2015. A variety of horsepower and aerodynamic packages were tested at the 2-mile track. The goal was to make the cars raceable enough that a driver can gain ground on the leader. During 20-lap runs, the drivers apparently passed the most in the low-downforce, soft-tire package. Low downforce can be achieved in a variety of ways, including a smaller rear spoiler. ‘They went through all the high-downforce stuff and less power and kind of the direction they went this year but even greater, and it was honestly really bad,’ said Joe Gibbs Racing’s #20-Matt Kenseth. ‘It was really singled out, you couldn’t pass, you could draft a little more on the straightaway but you’re almost wide open in the corners. At the very end, they took all the downforce off and gave us all our power back and did all that and it was pretty much unanimous from the drivers, ‘¦ it was awesome.’ No one is sure what NASCAR will do, as it will take the data from the test and evaluate it to make the 2015 rules. ‘It was like going back 15 years in time or something like that,’ Kenseth said. ‘You could pass actually in the corners. ‘¦ You could get one guy on the bottom, one guy on the top. The air wasn’t so turbulent that you couldn’t get outside of people. So the track got really wide. It was like the track aged 10 years. It was awesome. Everybody got out with a smile on their face. You actually wouldn’t feel as guilty cashing your paycheck on Friday anymore because you actually had to drive the cars like you used to.’
‘If you listen to all the drivers, they’re really excited and would like to see NASCAR at least go and investigate that direction for sure,’ said Roush Fenway Racing competition director Robbie Reiser. ‘I know from the test and the reports everybody has talked about, it seems like everybody really liked what they saw at the end of that Michigan test. They used the words, ‘We can drive the car.’ That is an important aspect of stock-car racing. They wanted it to be less dependent on the aero side and a little more dependent on the driver side.’ Reiser said he believes teams would like the rule package by early September but would be happy if they get it by the end of September. I know NASCAR is under pressure to try to get us rules, but we really need to make the right decision.’(Sporting News)(8-23-2014)
