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Sprint Cup
CUP: SPEED On-Air Personalities Preview Daytona Preseason Thunder
SPEED on-air personalities discuss what they’ll be watching for in this week's three-day preseason test at Daytona...
SPEED and SPEED.com will carry all the action from this week's three days of preseason testing at Daytona beginning Thursday at 9am ET/6am PT. (Image: SPEED)
SPEED ON-AIR PERSONALITIES PREVIEW THIS WEEK’S DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TEST SESSION
After a seemingly briefer-than-usual offseason, the engines roar back to life Thursday at Daytona International Speedway for Daytona Preseason Thunder testing. Before SPEED and SPEED.com hit the air to bring viewers live coverage of every minute of testing, the SPEED on-air personalities take a minute to break down what they’ll be watching for in the three-day preseason test session. Below are their thoughts:
Q: We’ve had a strangely active off-season with several personnel changes within various teams. Given these distractions, will it be beneficial for teams to get back to the track and back to what they know?
“It has been a very unusual off-season with Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger moving around and starting the domino effect elsewhere. Ultimately, drivers are just like any other sport or athlete – they all just want to race. Jeff Burton Tweeted in early December that he was already bored. I think they’re all ready to go, but if it was up to the drivers, we’d race 50 weeks a year.”
--Steve Byrnes
“It’s going to be good to get to the test where teams can start to get familiar with each other, but the true test doesn’t start until you get to Phoenix and Las Vegas, where you begin truly solving handling problems in a timely manner. The Daytona test is all about making the car faster and getting that chemistry between the driver and the team. But when a new driver and crew chief are placed together, they can move in together and have every meal together during the offseason, but until they get in the trenches of the regular season, they won’t be put to the true test.”
--Larry McReynolds
Q: Restrictor-plate racing is a different beast, so how much value do you put on this week’s test?
“This one will be incredibly important because NASCAR has instituted a couple of rule changes in hopes of breaking up the two-car tandems we’ve seen lately. All the drivers I’ve talked to say they have no idea how it will work. Although testing can be incredibly boring and monotonous, this one is very important.”
--Steve Byrnes
“This test is crucial because teams are going down with a brand-new engine. I think they’ll try to learn as much as they can about fuel mileage and the other things we’ve been hearing about the motors. Plus, they’ll be experimenting to see how long they can keep two cars hooked up in the tandem drafting, or ‘trailer racing,’ as I call it. That’s the most important thing on the agenda at the test. Teams have been using their computers and simulation in the shop to decipher exactly how long they can do the pair drafting, but there’s nothing like getting on the track to see how far they can push the limit without blowing up the motor.”
--Bob Dillner
Q: It’s been a game of musical chairs for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs since Homestead. What is your favorite new driver/crew chief combination?
“People forget that Steve Addington was Bobby Labonte’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing when Tony Stewart drove the No. 20 car. Stewart and Steve know each other pretty well, so I think that will be a good pairing. But the one I’m focused on is Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb because I think it has the potential to be pretty special.”
--Steve Byrnes
“I really like Drew Blickensderfer with Jeff Burton because two years ago, Burton got on a roll and made the Chase, but his team fell apart at the seams in 2011. With the success the entire Roush Fenway Racing brigade had last year, Drew can bring some of that knowledge into the RCR camp and help out a very smart and calculating driver like Burton. I think Burton’s No. 31 team is capable of utilizing what the No. 29 learned last season plus what Drew brings over.”
--Bob Dillner
“Each of the nine major Sprint Cup operations has at least one change with a major player in 2012. I like the Darian Grubb/Denny Hamlin combination. I also like the Steve Addington/Tony Stewart combination because I’m a firm believer that, given where Stewart is in his career, if you just give him someone who can work with him, he will be successful. I don’t know which I like the most, but the one I’m zeroed in on to breed success compared to his 2011 season is Hamlin now teamed up with Grubb.”
--Larry McReynolds
Q: NASCAR has said they’d like to break up the tandem racing pairs at Daytona. Do you think this is possible, and if so, how will it be accomplished?
“NASCAR has been chipping away at the tandem drafting with little rule changes. Now with even more changes this year with the smaller radiator and the pressure relief valve on the cooling system, I think we’ll see a little difference. But the biggest difference will result from drivers no longer being able to talk to each other on the radio like they did last year. That will make it tough for these guys to hook up for very long. I’m not saying it will put a complete stop to it, but it will make pairing up much more difficult.”
--Larry McReynolds
“No matter what NASCAR does, short of building a brand-new race car, they won’t break up these packs. They can bust them up for periods of time but two cars are faster than three or five in a pack. At crucial points in the race, they’ll get back together and push each other no matter what it may do to their cars or motors. NASCAR can misalign the bumpers or take away more of the cooling systems, but drivers will find a way to get hooked up to win that race.”
--Bob Dillner
DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TESTING: During the Jan. 12-14 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway, fans can submit questions and comments through Twitter @SPEED (http://www.twitter.com/speed) using the #daytonatesting hashtag.
After a seemingly briefer-than-usual offseason, the engines roar back to life Thursday at Daytona International Speedway for Daytona Preseason Thunder testing. Before SPEED and SPEED.com hit the air to bring viewers live coverage of every minute of testing, the SPEED on-air personalities take a minute to break down what they’ll be watching for in the three-day preseason test session. Below are their thoughts:
Q: We’ve had a strangely active off-season with several personnel changes within various teams. Given these distractions, will it be beneficial for teams to get back to the track and back to what they know?
“It has been a very unusual off-season with Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger moving around and starting the domino effect elsewhere. Ultimately, drivers are just like any other sport or athlete – they all just want to race. Jeff Burton Tweeted in early December that he was already bored. I think they’re all ready to go, but if it was up to the drivers, we’d race 50 weeks a year.”
--Steve Byrnes
“It’s going to be good to get to the test where teams can start to get familiar with each other, but the true test doesn’t start until you get to Phoenix and Las Vegas, where you begin truly solving handling problems in a timely manner. The Daytona test is all about making the car faster and getting that chemistry between the driver and the team. But when a new driver and crew chief are placed together, they can move in together and have every meal together during the offseason, but until they get in the trenches of the regular season, they won’t be put to the true test.”
--Larry McReynolds
Q: Restrictor-plate racing is a different beast, so how much value do you put on this week’s test?
“This one will be incredibly important because NASCAR has instituted a couple of rule changes in hopes of breaking up the two-car tandems we’ve seen lately. All the drivers I’ve talked to say they have no idea how it will work. Although testing can be incredibly boring and monotonous, this one is very important.”
--Steve Byrnes
“This test is crucial because teams are going down with a brand-new engine. I think they’ll try to learn as much as they can about fuel mileage and the other things we’ve been hearing about the motors. Plus, they’ll be experimenting to see how long they can keep two cars hooked up in the tandem drafting, or ‘trailer racing,’ as I call it. That’s the most important thing on the agenda at the test. Teams have been using their computers and simulation in the shop to decipher exactly how long they can do the pair drafting, but there’s nothing like getting on the track to see how far they can push the limit without blowing up the motor.”
--Bob Dillner
Q: It’s been a game of musical chairs for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs since Homestead. What is your favorite new driver/crew chief combination?
“People forget that Steve Addington was Bobby Labonte’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing when Tony Stewart drove the No. 20 car. Stewart and Steve know each other pretty well, so I think that will be a good pairing. But the one I’m focused on is Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb because I think it has the potential to be pretty special.”
--Steve Byrnes
“I really like Drew Blickensderfer with Jeff Burton because two years ago, Burton got on a roll and made the Chase, but his team fell apart at the seams in 2011. With the success the entire Roush Fenway Racing brigade had last year, Drew can bring some of that knowledge into the RCR camp and help out a very smart and calculating driver like Burton. I think Burton’s No. 31 team is capable of utilizing what the No. 29 learned last season plus what Drew brings over.”
--Bob Dillner
“Each of the nine major Sprint Cup operations has at least one change with a major player in 2012. I like the Darian Grubb/Denny Hamlin combination. I also like the Steve Addington/Tony Stewart combination because I’m a firm believer that, given where Stewart is in his career, if you just give him someone who can work with him, he will be successful. I don’t know which I like the most, but the one I’m zeroed in on to breed success compared to his 2011 season is Hamlin now teamed up with Grubb.”
--Larry McReynolds
Q: NASCAR has said they’d like to break up the tandem racing pairs at Daytona. Do you think this is possible, and if so, how will it be accomplished?
“NASCAR has been chipping away at the tandem drafting with little rule changes. Now with even more changes this year with the smaller radiator and the pressure relief valve on the cooling system, I think we’ll see a little difference. But the biggest difference will result from drivers no longer being able to talk to each other on the radio like they did last year. That will make it tough for these guys to hook up for very long. I’m not saying it will put a complete stop to it, but it will make pairing up much more difficult.”
--Larry McReynolds
“No matter what NASCAR does, short of building a brand-new race car, they won’t break up these packs. They can bust them up for periods of time but two cars are faster than three or five in a pack. At crucial points in the race, they’ll get back together and push each other no matter what it may do to their cars or motors. NASCAR can misalign the bumpers or take away more of the cooling systems, but drivers will find a way to get hooked up to win that race.”
--Bob Dillner
DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TESTING: During the Jan. 12-14 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway, fans can submit questions and comments through Twitter @SPEED (http://www.twitter.com/speed) using the #daytonatesting hashtag.
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