| | DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The slow Chevrolets might be faster
next weekend because NASCAR changed its aerodynamic rules Monday
after the all-new Monte Carlos were not competitive for the third
straight race.
Dale Earnhardt finished eighth Sunday -- the best by a Chevy -- in
the rain-shortened CarsDirect.com 400 in Las Vegas.
The sanctioning body, which after each of the first two races
put a Chevy, a partially redesigned Ford and a virtually unchanged
Pontiac through wind-tunnel testing, decided to permit changes to
the front air dams of the Chevys. The new change will take effect
Sunday in the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"This modification will allow Monte Carlo teams to extend their
front air dam two inches forward below the bumper from the current
measurement," NASCAR said in a statement.
The front air dam is an opening below the bumper that funnels
air beneath the car. Testing was done at a wind tunnel after the
season-opening Daytona 500 and the Dura Lube/Kmart 400 the
following weekend in Rockingham, N.C.
Presumably, the air dam changes will make the Chevys more stable
and faster through the turns.
With Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett winning, Fords swept the
first five positions in the Daytona 500, with no Chevy finishing
better than seventh. At North Carolina Speedway, Earnhardt's Monte
Carlo wound up second -- the only top-five finish for a Chevy -- to
the Pontiac of series points leader Bobby Labonte.
Jeff Gordon, the three-time series champion mired in 23rd
position in the standings, said Sunday that very little information
on chassis setups from last year can easily be applied to the new
Monte Carlos.
NASCAR insisted from the start of practice last month in Daytona
that results of early races would play a part -- along with the wind
tunnel -- in any decision on rules changes.
"When we feel like we have enough to be convinced and
understand what an issue is, and feel like we also have enough
information to know what reaction we can make ... we'll do that,"
Winston Cup series director Gary Nelson said after the race in
Rockingham.
The Pontiacs have been competitive. Labonte won as Grand Prixs
took three of the top four sports in North Carolina. Labonte's
teammate, Tony Stewart finished second behind the Ford of Jeff
Burton in Las Vegas, where Pontiacs took three of the top seven
positions. | |
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