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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Spoilers To Be In Place By Texas
The much talked about spoiler might be in place by the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas in April...
John Sturbin  |  Posted March 02, 2010   Fort Worth, TX
NASCAR president Mike Helton was at Texas Motor Speedway Monday and talked about several issues, including the earlier return to spoilers on NASCAR Sprint Cup race cars. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
NASCAR president Mike Helton says there is a “doggone good chance” that Sprint Cup cars will be sporting rear spoiler blades in place of their current raised wings at Texas Motor Speedway next month.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Samsung Mobile 500 scheduled on April 18 will be the first blade race for NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow platform.

The blade was first tested around TMS’ 1.5-mile quadoval by Cup regulars Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers during a Goodyear tire session on Jan. 19 and 20. Those drivers represented each of the four manufacturers competing in Cup.

Meanwhile, an open-test on the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway, a sister facility to TMS, is booked for March 23-24. That means NASCAR officials could OK the blade for races on the half-mile Martinsville Speedway on March 28, the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway on April 10 and/or TMS.

“We’re hoping that within the next two or three races we’ll be at a point where we say, ‘It’s time to take the wing off and put the spoiler on,’ ” Helton said in an interview during TMS’ annual Media Day on Monday. “So I think by time we come here in April, we may have a race or two under our belt with the spoiler.”

TMS president Eddie Gossage – who posed the blade question during an easy chair interview with Helton up on a stage at The Speedway Club – is convinced the April race here will be run with the blade.

“Mike danced around it with his answer,” Gossage said. “I knew I was putting him on the spot because I know we’re going to run the spoiler. They tested here a month ago. They’re going to run the spoiler. Among other things, the thing I like about it is that’s what a race car looks like. It’s got a spoiler on it. Doesn’t have a rear wing. Never understood these 4-cylinder cars with a rear wing on it and they’re front-wheel drive. The purpose of the wing is to give you downforce, and you want the downforce on your drive wheels. Make sense?”

Furthermore, Gossage believes the aluminum blade – which at TMS ran 4 inches high and 64.5 inches wide – could upset the current balance of power enjoyed by Hendrick Motorsports, home to four-time and reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champion Jeff Gordon and their Chevrolets.

“If you look back, a few years ago, Jack Roush had all five cars in the Chase. He had none in the Chase last year,” said Gossage, referring to the Ford stable at Roush Fenway Racing. “So the tide had turned. And he’ll tell you that the difference is they didn’t develop the Car of Tomorrow as much as everybody else had. They were behind on the COT. So if somebody’s behind on this spoiler thing, then there could be a reversal of fortunes. If Hendrick is behind, let’s say, then Jimmie’s going to have a tough time. Jeff’s going to have a tough time.



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