NASCAR’s short-track package aims to improve racing at venues where the Next Gen car’s inherent overtaking prowess, or the lack of it, is prevalent. In conjunction with the added horsepower for this season, drivers are looking forward to the next track on the schedule, which will sport the updated package. Following this Sunday’s visit to Las Vegas, the field will travel to Darlington Raceway on March 22.
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Chase Briscoe expects complete chaos at the South Carolina track with this new package. “It’s going to be out of control,” he told Jeff Gluck. “It’s going to be the hardest track we have been on all year long. Added power is one thing. But the biggest thing is taking the diffuser and everything off. I have run the sim for a week and a half now. You are crashing every corner, every lap.”
The new short-track aerodynamic package includes a simplified diffuser, which is supposed to limit underbody aero, hence forcing cars to make less downforce, and in turn less grip. It makes things much more challenging for drivers, even when they are on fresh tires. Briscoe continued, “It is out of control. Literally, the whole weekend, I think, is going to be a must-see.”
One team among all will nail their car setup, according to Briscoe, and that team will be miles ahead of the competition on the race weekend. The JGR driver expects his fellow competitors to be completely exhausted by the end of the day. Racing at Darlington is hard enough as it is, with drivers often seen balancing their cars on the edge, running close to the fence. With the new package, expect things to be dialled up further.
Denny Hamlin’s warning to the field ahead of Darlington
Speaking on Actions Detrimental earlier this week, Hamlin underlined that the new package has caused racing at short tracks to get better by ten to fifteen percent. He expects the same to follow through at other short tracks. But at Darlington, he expects utter chaos.
“These cars with essentially little to no underbody,” he said. “Because we’re now going to the short track aerodynamic package for Darlington. These cars are out of control. And so we are going to be…I’m predicting four seconds of fall off. It might be more.”
As Briscoe did, he pointed out the removal of the underbody and the simplified diffuser to make his case. The Goodyear 400 will be a wild-card race, as the drivers predict. But before heading there, drivers must play their cards right in Sin City this Sunday.
