NASCAR Indianapolis 2015: Drivers doubt new rules package will be improvement

Nearly five hours of practice Friday wasn’t enough for drivers to gauge how a new and vastly different rules package will perform in Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The new high-drag, high downforce package features a heightened nine-inch spoiler -- three inches higher than the spoiler used most weeks -- a one-inch wicker bill atop the spoiler and a bigger radiator pan.

NASCAR introduced the package to bunch up the field and create drafting, therefore increasing passing opportunities on a track where side-by-side racing is often problematic due to one primary groove drivers prefer -- the bottom lane.

Incorporating low banking and sweeping corners, Indianapolis was designed for open-wheel cars, which often run two- and three-wide with an abundant of passing.

“The draft is huge,” Joey Logano said. “What that does in the corners is gonna be a different ballgame. Obviously, the hole in the air is larger, so driving the cars through the corners is gonna be more challenging, but the drag down the straightaway will that overcome what the challenge is in the corner? We’ll just have to wait and see. I think that’s gonna be an interesting part of the race.”

Because of the draft, drivers estimate the trailing car(s) will see a significant horsepower increase -- upwards of 100 horsepower. That, however, doesn’t ensure a greater amount of passing will occur Sunday, with some participants skeptical.

“Here is a very tough racetrack,” said Denny Hamlin, the fastest in Friday’s first practice. “This is a one-groove racetrack where it’s definitely been tough to pass here for 15 years or as long as I’ve been here. It’s just going to be one of those tough tracks.”

Drivers raced a low downforce package consisting of a three-inch spoiler and shortened front splitter overhang two weeks ago at Kentucky Speedway. That package, long lobbied for by drivers, produced one of the better races of the season and drew wide praise throughout the garage.

The high-drag package is being utilized at the behest of NASCAR, which would like to see pack racing and drafting on intermediate-sized ovals. The same aerodynamic modifications will also run Aug. 16 at Michigan International Speedway.

“Passing will be tough to say the least,” Hamlin said. “We’re trying something new. I can’t fault them for trying. They tried what we wanted to try and I thought we had a pretty successful race. Now we’re trying something different. We’ll see if it’s better or not.”

Teams were given three sessions of practice to acclimate Friday. The first consisted solely of single-car runs, with some drivers attempting to draft in the preceding rounds.

But the true indicator of whether the new package will create a better product won’t come until race day when 43 cars are on the track.

“On Sunday, when you get two cars side-by-side with this package the guy in third is going to have an extra engine,” Jamie McMurray said. “It’s going to be crazy the amount of speed that he is going to have. The restarts are going to be pretty wild, I think.”