NASCAR saps speeds as Talladega test wraps

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Team meeting: Hendrick Motorsports mates Jeff Gordon (from left), Kyle Busch and Casey Mears talk over their Car of Tomorrow experience in the Talladega garage.

Speeds were down during the second and final day of Car of Tomorrow testing at Talladega Superspeedway on Tuesday, as NASCAR mandated a slightly smaller restrictor plate.
Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Paul Menard (193.095 mph) and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Busch (192.862 mph) had the fastest cars on the track during both morning and afternoon drafting sessions Tuesday. Johnny Sauter turned a lap at 196.195 Monday.

"It's been a very well-spent two days," said John Darby, Nextel Cup Series director. "Overall we've got the cars running real stable and, for the most part, comfortable for the drivers. This is a very different restrictor plate package than we've run here before. The new car and the new engine packages have produced a (31/32nd inch) restrictor plate, larger than what we've had here."

Penske Dodge driver Ryan Newman said NASCAR seemed to make the right move by reducing the size of the restrictor plate as well as reducing the size of the wicker by one-quarter inch.

"The speeds were a little bit fast and they slowed the cars down," said Newman, whose 191.39 lap was 19th-fastest of 55 cars in the afternoon session. "NASCAR did a good job with that."

Third-fastest in Tuesday's morning session was the Bill Davis Toyota of Jacques Villeneuve, the Formula One champion driver expected to run Cup full time in 2008.

"It has been a lot of fun to get out there with so many talented drivers," Villeneuve said. "To be running in the middle of the pack with them is great, and the fact that they trust me enough to stay behind me is good.

"I have just been trying to learn the draft and learn what the other cars are doing. This is very different than anything I've done before. Thankfully I've driven on ovals when I was running in Champ cars about 12 years ago, so there are a few memories there."

Running the Car of Tomorrow at Talladega will be a new experience for all drivers come Oct. 7 at the UAW-Ford 500 Cup race. It will be NASCAR's first competition with the Car of Tomorrow on a restrictor-plate track.

"I loved my car and loved the way it felt," said Toyota driver Michael Waltrip, 23rd fastest in the afternoon at 191.229 mph. "We have to make the race on time here in a couple weeks. We've been changing some of the aerodynamic characteristics of the car — the pitch, the angles and anything you can move around a little bit."

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