I was listening to this NASCAR podcast with Sprint Cup Series Director, John Darby, about his take on how Daytona testing went for the Sprint Cup Series. For the most part he implies it was all sunshine and lollipops.
He gave some interesting insight into the vibe in the garage. I’d love to hear a radio show on the level of Steve & Charlie’s race talk radio program On Pit Row, but hosted by the duo of Kyle Busch & John Darby. That would definitely be two different points of view.
If you want to take the sunshine that Darby exudes about the Car of Tomorrow (help me! what are we calling it now? The ‘new car’?) and how the drivers feel about it, I’ve collected some of the highlights.
Darby said, “The package that we put together for the new cars at Talladega appears to be much better suited even for Daytona.”
He also cited positive feedback from the drivers on:
- Driver comfort
- Stability of the cars
- How well they drove and handled
Darby referred to positive conversations with many drivers who cited, “their ability to do some different things in the draft they had a much harder time doing in the old car.”
I think for sure that the ability to ‘bump draft’ with two cars that line-up evenly is a great plus. If Hornish will stop bump drafting in the tri-oval, things are looking real good on that aspect.
When asked if any changes will be made to the car rules before the Daytona 500, Darby said, “We probably will make one very small tweak to the gear ratio.”
Darby tied in how the speeds were up in the second testing session and that the tire blistering of session one was no longer an issue as teams getting a good handle on car setup.
I’m still left a little puzzled by the real insight we fans can draw from the Daytona testing.
Definitely looking forward to California and Las Vegas. Can Toyota perform well there too?”