I assumed by saying that the new system is better for the environment, they were trying to eliminate the jet dryers all together. Possible that the two work together though, best of both worlds.
Yup, he grew a squirrel in the off season it would appear.. noticed that on the Roar before the 24 pictures
Edit: Chevy, Ford, Toyota 1, 2, 3 at the top of the speed chart so far this morning (Menard, Biffle, Kenseth)
Edit2: Kenseth to the top with 192 mph in single car runs.. (194 pole speed for last year's 500). That will definitely be faster this year once qualifying comes around . Toyota's typically aren't good plate track qualifiers either
No drafting yet in the afternoon session, but Kenseth and Hamlin broke the 194mph barrier.. the only 2 to do so . Waltrip could crash the whole field
Edit: Holy cow, those roof flaps are huge Maybe they'll let them go faster (yeah right)
Edit2: Kenseth and Hamil tried the tandem and this new car didn't seem to like it.. they only ran 194mph.. Burton ran that alone in qualifying trim later on
Looks like 3 Toyotas are going to go out and run together here just before practice ends
Edit: Draft doesn't seem to be quite as strong is some ways and stronger in others . Seems like a single car can catch the draft once again if they mix it up. Also there's not a lot of speed to gain in a 4 car draft vs. a single car run.. maybe a mile per hour is all. They took spring out of the rear and this set the rear of the car way down. It actually seems pretty interesting and hopefully it will allow the pack to spread out some. I don't hold too much hope in that, but it would be nice.
There were 4 cars at most in the draft at the end of today's afternoon session. Drafting may return tomorrow in the morning or afternoon either one if I am not mistaken. NASCAR will allow them to draft in the morning sessions this year
Looks like there was a crash in the draft today (10 cars) . I'm watching the session off of the DVR right now.
The cars seem a lot less in control than before and it seems as though there is a pocket of air behind the car in which is actually slower than a little further back of that car. It should make the draft a little calmer. You can make moves on your own now I beleive, but of course the cars behind you will always dictate rather you've made a good call or not on the plate tracks..
I still don't think that the bump draft will be much of a factor in the plate races.. at least at Daytona even if the non-ford cars line-up. It's not really faster now.
Watkins Glen is making some kind of announcement tomorrow, could just be a sponsor thing but I'm hoping they're running the full track this year. Said there will be a hint this afternoon.
I don't think it said Nascar specific, my guess would be its about a Cup race sponsor. They're having the press conference at Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse which has been a vendor there the past couple years and has restaurants in a couple places up here, I'm wondering if they might be the sponsor.
They have one in NYC, Syracuse, and Rochester all in NY. Think maybe there might be a new one NJ too? And I've heard they're building a new one in Buffalo soon. They've been expanding more recently.
I've always thought it was overrated, its OK food but the wait for the one here is like 2 hours on weekends and they don't take reservations, no thanks. Their sauces are good though. If they are trying to start to go more national, sponsoring a Cup race would be the way to do it.
Edit: Been waiting all day for WGI to post their "hint" on Twitter. Finally realized its been up there all afternoon:
Just a lame sponsorship announcement, with the way they were hyping it up I was hoping for more. Cheez-It 355 at the Glen has a nice ring to it...or not.