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19th
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Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola was fastest in abbreviated test at the 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR officials were pleased in the final test of the new “Gen 6” NASCAR stock car.
“It's definitely just another step in the launch of the Generation 6 car,” said Sprint Cup Series director John Darby. But there's probably more cars here today that I'll term as real race cars with full manufacturer's steel bodies and the correct components, deck lids, hoods, and everything else that goes with it.
“For a lot of the teams, the test is probably more real, real‑life than what some of our previous tests here have been. Other than that, not a lot has changed.
“I think from the rules package‑wise and specification for the cars, all of that is pretty much settled down. We had most of that dialled in from our previous test here in December, so everybody has taken those specifications and going forward with them and just trying to do the best they can now as we get ready to start into the real season.”
And there was another new development. After decades of using steel and aluminum templates to gauge if a stock car was “stock,” the series has adopted a form of a laser measuring device.
“Through the effort of a lot of our officials and some help from our engineers and IT people, we've finally reached that point, and the laser platform is something that we feel really good ‑‑ we're excited about that, as well as a lot of the teams have adapted to it, as well. It's going to be very accurate. It's going to be very consistent.
“It doesn't change the technical inspection procedure much. It's just it ‑‑ one unit is replacing probably 15 or 20 mechanical hand‑held gauges that we used to use in the past.
“We had it here just for the use of the teams. To your point, there was many cars that came across it, and it's like anything else; if we're off now, it's a few thousandths here or a few thousandths there. It's numbers that for all practical purposes aren't even worth arguing about.
“That made everybody feel good, as well as our guys who have been working so hard on putting that piece together,” Darby added.
And, as a final look back at last week's test at Daytona, Darby was asked if there were any changes for next month's Speedweek's at Daytona.
“Hell no, I wouldn't change nothing. I just can't wait to get back there,” he said.
NASCAR officials were pleased in the final test of the new “Gen 6” NASCAR stock car.
“It's definitely just another step in the launch of the Generation 6 car,” said Sprint Cup Series director John Darby. But there's probably more cars here today that I'll term as real race cars with full manufacturer's steel bodies and the correct components, deck lids, hoods, and everything else that goes with it.
“For a lot of the teams, the test is probably more real, real‑life than what some of our previous tests here have been. Other than that, not a lot has changed.
“I think from the rules package‑wise and specification for the cars, all of that is pretty much settled down. We had most of that dialled in from our previous test here in December, so everybody has taken those specifications and going forward with them and just trying to do the best they can now as we get ready to start into the real season.”
And there was another new development. After decades of using steel and aluminum templates to gauge if a stock car was “stock,” the series has adopted a form of a laser measuring device.
“Through the effort of a lot of our officials and some help from our engineers and IT people, we've finally reached that point, and the laser platform is something that we feel really good ‑‑ we're excited about that, as well as a lot of the teams have adapted to it, as well. It's going to be very accurate. It's going to be very consistent.
“It doesn't change the technical inspection procedure much. It's just it ‑‑ one unit is replacing probably 15 or 20 mechanical hand‑held gauges that we used to use in the past.
“We had it here just for the use of the teams. To your point, there was many cars that came across it, and it's like anything else; if we're off now, it's a few thousandths here or a few thousandths there. It's numbers that for all practical purposes aren't even worth arguing about.
“That made everybody feel good, as well as our guys who have been working so hard on putting that piece together,” Darby added.
And, as a final look back at last week's test at Daytona, Darby was asked if there were any changes for next month's Speedweek's at Daytona.
“Hell no, I wouldn't change nothing. I just can't wait to get back there,” he said.