AVONDALE, Ariz. — When the NASCAR Cup Series arrives at Phoenix Raceway this weekend, cars will be utilizing a different rules package than what was in place for November’s season finale at the one-mile desert race track.
The new aero package that will debut at Phoenix is aimed at improving the quality of the racing on short ovals and road courses. The package was tested at Phoenix in January.
Among the changes to the Next Gen machines that will be in place as part of this package will be a two-inch spoiler and the removal of three diffuser strakes and engine strake panels. Engineers expect the changes to lead to a 30-percent reduction in downforce.
As a result of the new aero package in place, teams will participate in a 50-minute practice session on Friday afternoon.
Chase Briscoe earned his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in last March’s event at Phoenix and the Stewart Haas Racing Ford driver is optimistic about the new package.
“I think any time you can have less downforce, it’s going to bring the cars closer together and create a better race,” Briscoe said. “The tires wear out and you start slipping and sliding around. It just makes it more competitive. There’s good and bad to that. It means as a team we have to be on it if we want to have a chance at a win but, if you can hit your setup right and keep track position, then it just adds that much more excitement.
“I don’t know that we can take much from last year because of the changes that have been made, so we’ll have to see what happens when we get on track for practice.”
Series veteran Michael McDowell believes the Friday practice session will be crucial.
“With our relationship with Ford and Ford Performance we’re able to share that information amongst some of the teams inside the Ford camp, some simulator time coming up tomorrow (Thursday), but that 50-minute practice is gonna be crucial,” said the driver of the Front Row Motorsports Ford. “I don’t want to say you take your best guess, but you take the numbers that are presented to you and you try to account for everything and hopefully you hit the balance right. The good thing is we do have that practice and probably more importantly than just the practice is the ability to work on it after practice.
“What I mean by that is on a typical weekend the cars are impounded – your springs, shocks, geometry, settings are pretty much set – but on Friday night after practice we’ll be able to change springs and suspension things to really maximize everything we can for Saturday.”