How is testing this new car different? “It was different than what we’re used to. This body style — we’re just trying to figure out where is the happy spot. Does it want to be straight behind the other car? Do you want to be offset a little bit? Really it seems like the back car gets a lot of air to it. It essentially makes it hard to suck up to the front car, which I think will bode well for our competition at other race tracks going forward where the front car doesn’t have such a huge advantage. That part of it is pretty optimistic. It definitely will lend more to pack racing versus two-car tandem.”
How will the new spring package affect the handling? “That will make it a little harder to drive, but the down force numbers on these cars are very similar to what we had before so really until we get into a full pack where we’ve essentially got people running 45 (second) flats rather than 46.30 (seconds) or whatever we were running. That’s when you really get a true feel for what the handling is.”
How is the vision in the new cars while drafting? “It’s tough — they’re wide. The back of them are wide and tall. The visibility is tough, but what I do like is that you can see out of the back with the spoiler height being a little lower you can see out of the back car a lot better. There’s a lot of things about this car that I definitely like.”
Why were you and Matt Kenseth faster with space between your cars versus the tandem runs? “We just were not able to keep together for one solid lap. I think it’s just the way these bodies are with the aero platform and everything. It’s just going to lend itself more to the pack racing. Like I said, it seems like the second car is getting just as much air thrown on the nose as what the front car is so it’s harder to suck up to the front car, which in turn will make for better pack racing versus two-car tandem.”
Source: Toyota Racing, Press Release
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