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Concession granted NASCAR gives quarter-inch after Fords' complaintsPosted: Sunday February 10, 2002 5:31 PM
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For the past month, Winston Cup series Ford teams have complained that follow-the-leader doesn't make for great racing. And NASCAR apparently agrees. Sunday evening, president Mike Helton announced another quarter-inch concession to Ford spoilers -- the second such adjustment in several weeks. The change is effective at 7 a.m. Tuesday, when the Cup garage at Daytona International Speedway opens. Cup practice begins at 12:30 p.m. "We had to cut through all the bullcrap to see what happened on the race track against the inspection process," Helton said, citing the General Motors- and Dodge-dominated results of Sunday's Budweiser Shootout. "All the testing showed that we needed a half-inch and now we have that," said Robert Yates, who owns Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd's teams. "This should give us a chance in the Daytona 500," Jarrett said. Earlier in the day, Ford drivers had insisted that follow-the-leader would be status quo if NASCAR didn't make another rules concession before Thursday's twin 125-mile qualifying races. Helton said the sanctioning body literally had to wait and see. "It gives us a chance on Thursday to see what this action creates," Helton said. "Through the whole process of the aero package change, from the meeting at Joe Gibbs shot through testing, we've said all along that we would adjust to try to get it right as quick as we can. [Saturday's] qualifying and [Sunday's] race are the first facts that they know about." In Sunday's race, Dale Jarrett finished sixth behind winner Tony Stewart, the highest of any Ford driver. But with the top five dominated by Pontiacs and Chevrolets, Ford folks weren't happy. "When you got two Robert Yates motors and that's the best you can do, there's something wrong," said Todd Bodine, who finished 10th, the next best Ford behind Jarrett. Bodine was followed in nose-to-tail fashion by Rusty Wallace at 11th, Mark Martin, Geoffrey Bodine, Kurt Busch and rookie Ryan Newman, respectively, at 15th. "We can't do anything body-wise," Jarrett said. "They have us hemmed up there. They have a template for every inch of these race cars. With that in mind, knowing you can't work on the body, we've gotta just work on our chassis. We've gotta work on a shock and spring combination that will allow us to run totally wide-open all the time to where when we do get that push or we do get that chance, then we can take advantage of it." Immediately after Sunday's Shootout, Tony Stewart's Pontiac, Sterling Marlin's Dodge, Jarrett's Ford and the Chevrolets of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon were commandeered for a dyno session in the garage. They'll spend Monday in Lockheed's wind tunnel in Marietta, Ga., and Helton doesn't expect any immediate adjustments off that data. "It could certainly be information that could help us along down the road," he said, also adding that he didn't expect any restrictor-plate adjustments. NASCAR's new speedway aero package mandates a 57-inch wide rear spoiler. Dodges and Pontiacs have a rear spoiler that's 6 1/2-inches high; through Sunday's Shootout, Fords ran with a spoiler 6 1/4-inch-high. Chevrolet's spoiler remains at 6 1/4 inches. Jarrett was the highest-placed Ford in Saturday's round of qualifying, at 13th, and Rudd was 15th -- the only two Ford drivers in the top 20. Prior to the Shootout, the garage rumor-of-the-day was that NASCAR might tinker with the Ford spoiler. But Bodine wasn't optimistic. "Dale finished [sixth], I ran up front," he said. "They're gonna say, 'Well you guys just messed up and didn't finish good.'" The ultimate proof was in post-race print: Stewart led 31 of the race's 70 laps. Earnhardt Jr. led 20 laps, Bobby Labonte led 11, and Wallace led only four laps. The only other Ford to lead was pole-winner Kurt Busch -- out front for only three laps. "NASCAR said the only thing they were going to give us was a quarter-inch off the rear spoiler, if that at all," Wallace said. "We'll take what we can get. We really want that quarter off the back before the 125s so we can get the car tuned up for it." But some in the Ford camp think more drastic measures are needed. "It would certainly make us more competitive," Jarrett said of another possible spoiler adjustment. "I'm not sure that's the total answer with our cars, I mean, the air's not really getting to the spoiler that much. That's why the quarter that they gave us didn't make a tremendous amount of difference. No, our problem's up front, but we'll take anything that they'll give us. If they don't give us anything, we're going to work like hell on our set-up and make our cars as good as we can." "The problems are drag, too much rear downforce and not enough front downforce," said Jack Roush, owner of Roush Racing. "When a Ford would be out front it would be in better shape on front downforce than behind another car. But it's just terrible." Roush thinks Ford's discontent is rooted in recent evolution. While crediting the work of Chevrolet, Pontiac and Dodge stables, he points the finger at NASCAR templates, not aerodynamic tweaking. "The Pontiac has received over a period of time the considerations that they need to make them competitive and in fact win a championship," Roush said. "The Dodges are a variant of a set of templates that they assigned to the Ford that they worked on for 18 months, and they've achieved better balance and lower drag. And the Chevrolet, what can I say a bout the Chevrolet? They've had everything they needed forever." And now the Pontiacs may pick up Ford's lobbying. "It's hard to spot 15 Chevrolet teams a quarter of an inch in the rear spoiler area as critical as that is," said Tony Glover, team manager of Chip Ganassi Racing. "And it's hard to spot the Ford teams a quarter of an inch, and if they get an additional quarter of an inch, the Dodge camp is basically behind the eight ball across the board."
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