Notebook: Even with smaller plate, top speeds soar at Daytona

Notebook: Even with smaller plate, top speeds soar at Daytona


By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

After a tire test on Daytona International Speedway’s new pavement in December, NASCAR mandated a smaller restrictor plate to slow the Sprint Cup cars.
In one sense, however, the change may have allowed them to go faster. When NASCAR reduced the holes in the plates from 30/32 of an inch to 29/32 for this week’s three-day test, it gave the cars enough stability to draft in pairs.
Two-car hook-ups may be the order of the day in the Feb. 20 Daytona 500.
“With the bigger plate, you couldn’t two-car draft, because it was too fast,” said Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Penske Dodge. “You’d just spin each other out. Now that we have the smaller plate, the cars are more vulnerable to the two-car draft. I think you’re going to really see now more than ever that someone’s going to be able to execute the two-car draft and get out front and drive away from the pack.
“We saw (Friday) where a two-car draft in five to 10 laps could pull a whole straightaway on three or four cars. I expect the same thing in the race. The teams that can execute that in the finest fashion will be rewarded.”
Keselowski said his top speed this week exceeded that of the tire test.
“I saw 203 (mph) in the car several times (in the middle of the backstretch),” he said. “What was ironic about that was that the fastest we could get up to when we were drafting with the bigger plate was 201, because you couldn’t really lock up together.
“I’m fairly confident that, if you get the packs big enough, we’ll get up to 205-208. I think the track’s got a lot of grip. It’ll lose grip when the 500 comes—it’ll get a little warmer and so forth—but it has grip to spare right now.”
Kurt Busch working hard to learn high-speed dance
It takes two to tango—and, if Kurt Busch is right, it’ll take two to win the Daytona 500.
Busch had just finished a debriefing session Saturday in the Sprint Cup garage after he and Penske Racing teammate Keselowski posted the fastest speeds of the week.
Hooked up in a two-car draft, Keselowski ran 198.605 mph, with Busch, who was pushing, at 198.579 mph.
“It’s one of the most unique feelings, when you hook up in the two-car draft, because there’s a lot of responsibility in both parties,” Busch said. “It’s almost like learning to dance, and this is a new dance for everybody, and whoever masters it and has the right opportunity will win the Daytona 500.
“I think I’ve done well with learning to understand this two-car breakaway. There’s still more to learn, though. There’s only two groups out on the track right now. When you’ve got four or five groups out there trying to do the same thing, it’s going to get pretty wild.”