It was probably the most anticipated test since NASCAR banned testing two years ago. Tuesday 50 teams tried out the new spoiler configuration on the 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Tuesday’s test wasn’t the first for the new/old spoiler. There had been a test at Texas Motor Speedway last month and a test at Talladega two weeks ago, but the Charlotte test had been the first one scheduled shortly after NASCAR announced a return to spoilers and the one that is being most watched.
As it turned out, unlike last week at Talladega, the new spoilers, which will make their competitive debut this weekend at Martinsville, weren’t all that different then the wings the teams were used to.
"It was good to know and put out of my mind that the spoiler was going to be a drastic difference in the way that the car drove," Harvick said. "That is not the case. The car has a lot of grip with the tire combination and the spoiler so it drives really good. “
Juan Pablo Montoya, who put down the fastest lap of the day, 185.976, agreed.
“it's like a normal track test session for us," said Montoya. "The cars are a lot slower in traffic with the spoiler but aside from that it handles pretty much the same.”
The speed for Montoya was six miles an hour slower than the pole speed of 192.376, for Jimmie Johnson last fall. Jeff Gordon said there were several reasons for the lower speeds.
“Just track temperature, rubber on the track, track temp,” Gordon said after the session was over. “It was very fast this morning, it was very cool conditions. We actually made a gear change, I know everybody did for this afternoon because we weren’t seeing much RPM. Which is not that surprising considering the amount of drag that we’ve added with the spoiler.”
The gear change in the afternoon for the teams was dictated by NASCAR according to vice president for competition Robin Pemberton; "We had made a gear adjustment for Charlotte based on some information from last year and because of what we learned today, we're already going back and adjusting to last year's gear ratio.”
Once teams realized the new spoiler wasn’t much different they began to use the test to gather information for the future.
"I think it's good to get out here," said Kasey Kahne. "We don't get a whole lot of tests at race tracks anymore, so it's nice when we do. I think it's definitely a help for all the teams. You can try some things that will work at Texas and work at other race tracks as well, and, hopefully, make gains with the cars."
Testing will continue Wednesday when more packs are expected and less single car runs. And for many drivers the hope is that now that a comfort level has been established the real question will be answered; how the new configuration will handle in an actual race.
“It would be nice to at least have a general idea,” said David Reutimann. “You don’t ever know if you can coordinate that because everyone is on their own agenda. Ideally, that would probably be the best way to really find out other than just showing up at a race track and seeing what we’re going to get, which is our only other alternative I guess.”
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