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 The idea behind taller spoilers and extended front splitters was to
generate more passing at the front of the field. Instead, drivers
couldn't catch the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kenseth even after the
restarts. And those with fast cars fighting traffic such as Kevin
Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., who finished second and third, found
the going extremely tough.
After the race, drivers did their best to avoid the question about
the high downforce package, saying little that was positive. "I've
got to be honest," said Kenseth, in full avoidance mode. "I didn't
see much of the race, which was totally fine with me. We were up
front the whole time, and that's what you want, right?"
It wasn't exactly what NASCAR had in mind. Harvick, who ran out of
fuel while trying to stretch his mileage and was in 12th place with
80 laps to go, proved that it was possible to advance through the
pack and make some passes with the high downforce package. But
evidently he wasn't thrilled with the effort it took. Asked to
compare the June race at Michigan with Sunday's event when it came
to the aero rules, Harvick declined to comment directly, saying
only, "I'm really proud of my team and the things that they did to
prepare for the race, and we had a good strong day."
Mercifully, perhaps, NASCAR announced two days before the race that
its summertime experiment with low and high downforce packages will
end at the Darlington Raceway in September - two races before the
Chase for the Sprint Cup begins. Steve O'Donnell, the executive vice
president and chief racing development officer for NASCAR, confirmed
in a media briefing on Friday at the Michigan track that the 10
Chase races would be conducted under the original 2015 rules. "The
tracks, the race teams, the (manufacturers), all believe that that
was in the best interest of the sport," said O'Donnell of the
sanctioning body's decision.
The lone exception will be the Talladega Superspeedway, where the
sanctioning body plans to have adjustments in place to try to avoid
the sort of crash that sent Austin Dillon's Chevy into the catch
fence at the Daytona International Speedway in July.
Meanwhile, Kenseth's dominance at Michigan seemed a fitting tribute
to Buddy Baker, one of NASCAR's original heroes of the
superspeedways who will be laid to rest on Tuesday in Charlotte
after his death last week from cancer. Other than his height of
6-foot-4 and broad shoulders, Baker is best remembered for a
dominating performance in the 1980 Daytona 500 when he led 143 laps
in Harry Ranier's Oldsmobile.
The first driver to record a lap over 200 mph in a stock car, it was
go or blow for big Buddy. He led 121 laps while driving to victory
for Ranier at Michigan in 1979. And, oh yes, Buddy is also known for
having hit the pace car and crashing while leading a race at the
Texas World Speedway.
Has NASCAR's summertime foray into changing aero rules for different
track configurations been a blunder? Evidently, NASCAR officials
don't think so.
The original plan was to make changes at Kentucky Speedway in July,
then Michigan and Darlington. The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway was added to the list due to similar speeds as
Michigan. O'Donnell said the information learned from the different
tracks - including the results from Darlington -- will be digested
and evaluated with further computer simulation testing.
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O'Donnell indicated after meeting with tire supplier Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Co., it's likely that next season will see different sets of
aero rules at different track configurations. "I think we'll have
enough data directionally to show us which way we'll want to go and
really go to work with Goodyear and all of our partners on sim work
to dial that in and make a call quickly for '16 so everybody can go
to work on it," said O'Donnell.
The key question: after using "low low downforce" at Kentucky
compared to the original 2015 rules, and then using the ultra-high
downforce package at Indy and Michigan, will NASCAR continue on that
same path? Will the intermediate speedways run lower downforce and
will the faster non-restrictor plate tracks such as the Auto Club
Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Indy and Michigan still run a high
downforce package?
Time will tell. If the goal is more overtaking and drivers
controlling their own destiny, it's possible some sort of different
low downforce packages will be used according to track configuration
and the high downforce experiment could end.
It was clear that the drivers other than Kenseth didn't like the
current high downforce package at Michigan and that it neither
generated more passing at the front of the field nor enough
elsewhere to justify the additional heat in the cockpits and the
drive trains, plus the extraordinary effort required to pass. The
thinking had been that a larger whole punched into the air by a
leading car would make it easier for a following car to overtake.
Instead, drivers made the usual complaints about getting to a car's
rear bumper before aerodynamics made it laborious to get past.
"It wasn't fun," said Penske Racing driver Brad Keselowski. "It
wasn't the worst I have ever seen, but this package increasingly
rewards the car over the driver and I am not a fan of that."
The high downforce rewarded the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas once again.
Kyle Busch won without challenge in the closing laps at Indy, part
of the team's streak of five victories in the last six races. The
only challenge to Kenseth at Michigan came from Chevy driver Austin
Dillon on a midrace restart. "He was really aggressive," said
Kenseth, who has three victories this season and 34 in his career.
"We touched a little bit even off of (Turn 4) and I was a little
frustrated."
Dillon didn't do anything wrong, said Kenseth, " I was like, 'Man,
I've got to get away.' We've got such a good car."
No matter who might have challenged him, once Kenseth got in a
couple of laps on restarts, he was gone.
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