NASCAR WCUP: Pennzoil Team Tests Proposed Superspeedway Rules
21 October 1999
Pennzoil Team Tests Proposed Superspeedway Rules Crew Chief Paul Andrews Says Team Ready To Build More 2000 Monte Carlos When NASCAR Issue Rules On Qualifying at Daytona, Talladega Pennzoil Crew Chief Paul Andrews and driver Steve Park said they support NASCAR if it decides to mandate stiffer rear springs and standard shock absorbers for qualifying at Daytona and Talladega in 2000. The Dale Earnhardt Inc. team tested their new 2000 Monte Carlo under current and proposed qualifying rules at Talladega on Monday and Tuesday after Sunday's Winston 500. Under current rules the Winston Cup cars run "trick" qualifying setups to get the rear spoiler out of the air. Those setups force the rear of the car to drag the track making it a very rough ride for drivers and damaging the track's surface. Once the rules are issued, Andrews said the team would build additional superspeedway cars for the Daytona 500 in February. Crew Chief Paul Andrews On The New Qualifying Rule: "On Monday and Tuesday in Talladega we tested our 2000 Monte Carlo under what we think might be next year's qualifying rules for Talladega and Daytona. Rumor says NASCAR will require us to run stiffer springs and four standard shocks for qualifying. If they did that it would probably raise the rear of the car about six to eight inches higher. That creates more drag because you will have the rear spoiler up in the air more than it was. If that happens most of the cars should be about four or five miles an hour slower in qualifying. "I'm in favor of NASCAR getting these cars off the ground during qualifying. There are too many tricks you have to do in qualifying to get the car real low for that one lap. Plus the tracks are getting beat up. If we get the cars to quit dragging the track and destroying the surface then we can get both tracks repaved and have better racing. If that is what NASCAR decides then I think it would be good for everyone. It's hard to say what NASCAR is going to do, but whatever they decide we just need to know so we can start building more 2000 Monte Carlos. I hope the rule comes this weekend so we can get to work. NASCAR was watching the testing at Talladega. They had different teams try different setups to see what it did to speeds and how the cars drove. I think they have a pretty good understanding of what is going on." Driver Steve Park On Smoother Qualifying Runs Under The New Rule: "Heck yes I like the proposed rule. We are getting roughed up qualifying at the superspeedways. Just a one lap run bounces you so hard it could knock the fillings out of your teeth. If they do this maybe this means I won't have any more backaches from qualifying and testing and the drivers won't need as many chiropractors to take to Daytona and Talladega next year." Andrews On 2000 Monte Carlo Test At Talladega, Future Plans: "The first thing we looked at this week was how the new car qualified under the current rule configuration. So we made the car run real low on the racetrack. That went well. We wanted to see how it compared to the '99 car and found that it compares to it about the same. Then we made some runs using the proposed rules for 2000 and that went well also. That obviously slowed the car down substantially. When you have that spoiler 8 inches higher no matter what you do you are going to go slower, but that is OK. The car still drove pretty good and it didn't drag the ground. "After we messed around with qualifying runs we put the Sunday setup in and did a little drafting in race trim. It drafted exactly like our '99 car did. It drove real good, drafted real good, and seemed to suck up in the draft. You are still going to have the same restrictor-plate problems that you have always had at these big tracks, but we were very pleased. You couldn't tell much of a difference really between the old and new car. The car we took to Talladega this week hasn't been in the wind tunnel yet. But we have one of (Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s) that has been in the wind tunnel for two eight-hour shifts. We have run other types of wind tunnel studies as well. "We got home Tuesday night. Now we are just waiting on NASCAR to make a decision on the rules so we can start building cars for 2000. We have the car we took to Talladega this week. But we aren't going to build any more until they make the decision. Depending on the rules we may want to change our car around a lot so we aren't going to do anything until we know what NASCAR wants to do for sure for qualifying. Once we get the rules then we will probably have four cars between our two teams at DEI. We will probably build another in the middle of the year. "As for the intermediate track car that we will run at Charlotte, Texas, Atlanta and places like that we are going to test it at Homestead the Monday and Tuesday right after the (Nov. 14) Pennzoil 400. That is a NASCAR test date. Actually, we have had more wind tunnel time for the intermediate track car than the superspeedway car. We know the rules are already decided upon and we will have the same template in 2000. We know with the intermediate car all we have to do is build the best body and go out and practice it. "What does all this means for the 2000 race season? I don't think the fans are going to see a dramatic change in racing with the new car. I think the teams will notice a little more downforce at the rear of the car. But, I don't think you will see a whole lot of difference." Race Information Race: Sunday, October 24th, 1999 in Rockingham, NC TV: TNN 12:30pm/et Purse: $2,044,356 1998 Race Winner: Jeff Gordon Track/Race Length: 1.017 mile oval, 393 laps, 399.68 miles Practice: Friday, Oct 22nd, 10:00-11:15am/et and 12:00-12:30pm/et; Saturday, Oct 23rd, 8:00-9:00am/et Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, Oct 23rd, for 1 hour after the BGN race, TV-? not listed on SpeedVision Qualifying Draw: Friday, Oct 22nd at 9:30am/et First Round Qualifying: 1 lap for positions 1-25, Friday, Oct 22nd at 2:00pm/et, TV-SpeedVision, tape delay at 4:30pm/et, 8pm/et and midnight/et and live via MRN radio/internet(link below) Second-Round Qualifying: Saturday, Oct 23rd at 9:30am/et for 1 lap, positions 26-36 Event Qualifying Record: Dale Jarrett, October 1996, 157.194mph Track Qualifying Record: Mark Martin, February 1997, 157.885mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Mark Martin, 156.502mph Track Specs: Degree of Banking: Turns 1-2: 22 degrees; Turns 3-4: 25 degrees; Straightaways: 8 degrees Width: Turns 55 feet wide; Straightaways: 50 feet wide Number of Pits: 45 on front straight (1,436 ft. long) pit road Pit Stalls: 30 feet long; 16 feet wide Length of Front Straight: 1,300 feet Length of Back Straight: 1,367 feet Length of Turns 1 & 2: 1,256 feet Length of Turns 3 & 4: 1,437 feet