Test Two
"You couldn’t bump draft, you
couldn’t get to people. They will change the rules again, I’m pretty
positive." So commented Kenny
Wallace before the start of the rain-delayed second test session at Daytona.
His teammate Dale
Earnhardt Jr. concurs – "We will be stuck, not able to pass, and the
whole race will depend on how quick you can get in and out of the pits….if you
kept the changes they made, except keep the bigger plate, it’d be fine,
too."
Now, was there any warning that the result
of taking the roof spoiler off the cars might lead to something like this?
One abbreviation comes to mind here – S.I.T.Y.S.
Matt Kenseth claims the drivers will
"be forced to race hard and try to stay with the draft the entire
race," and John Darby claimed the results of the first drafting session
were premature since only five cars per draft ran. But past experience doesn’t
bode well on that score – Darby presided over the last four plate races in Grand
National and only one – the 2000 Talladega 300 – had any memorable competition.
Without the powerful draft of the roof spoilers, passing becomes steadily more
difficult no matter how hard some of these drivers run.
Kenny Wallace acknowledges that "All
of us drivers are unsure about what everybody wants," i.e. they themselves
can’t make up their minds what they want other than to not have to race hard all
day. The roof spoiler rules were "too competitive and we were wrecking too
much," as if they weren’t wrecking the same before the roof spoilers. And
the term "too competitive" is a flat contradiction – there is no such
concept as too competitive.
That these drivers and the sport in
general knew entering this test that the cars would not be able to pass without
the roof spoiler only makes things more frustrating. Junior pines for a larger
restrictor plate and Mikey Waltrip whines that the cars should be able to run
193, but a larger plate won’t solve anything and making the cars faster is
something the sport should not be doing. When Junior and Mikey talk about
wanting "something we could run faster with and be able to slingshot with
(Junior)," they ignore that it is the draft, not throttle response, that
makes passing possible – they can slingshot with the restrictor plate; they
cannot do so without the draft. By killing the draft, the drivers killed their
ability to race – and for what? An "improvement" in safety that
amounts to nothing.
With Monday a rainout, teams did something
they didn’t do in the first test and which I don’t believe they’ve ever done
before – they got their cars inspected before going onto the track. Sure enough,
most weren’t legal. That they were legal now showed in the mile per hour gap
between the two tests – Week One testers cracked 183; Week Two couldn’t quite
get there as of the first day. Once again Chevys were on top, but this time
there were four Dodges – all of Ray Evernham’s teams plus Jimmy Spencer – in the
top ten of Day One. The fastest Ford was 14th – Andy Hillenburg subbing for
Ricky Rudd – and only two Fords cracked the top twenty.
Bill Elliott posted a speed of 187 and
change early in the test, but a snap teardown revealed the car had the wrong
sized plate. Rival crew guys no doubt cracked jokes about Elliott getting
"The Call" restrictor plate Dale Junior got in last year’s Firecracker
400 – certainly message board denizens circulated joking jibes in that regard.
But in seriousness, Ray Evernham did not find the situation at all funny and
essentially vowed that someone’s head would roll.
Surprisingly, no one seemed to recall 1999
when Geoff Bodine tested at Talladega without a restrictor plate and easily
cracked 217 – how that happened has never really been explained; nor has an
explanation come as to why Elliott’s team went through with such a move as using
the wrong plate.
There they went again.
Rootin’ Tootin’ Bruton and Howard A.
Wheeler were at it again about how NASCAR "promised" them a second
Texas racedate, and they also griped about how NASCAR has not held down costs.
But I haven’t read much from them in the way of ideas. I’d like them to spell
out their ideas for cutting costs.