Dale Earnhardt, Jr. turns laps during practice for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Photo by Josh Hedges/Getty Images
After Friday’s opening 85-minute NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session at Michigan International Speedway, there was strong consensus among drivers as to the lower-downforce aerodynamic package in place for Sunday’s FireKeepers 400.
In a word, the new configuration was “challenging.”
That’s exactly what it was supposed to be.
“Speeds are blazing fast down the straightaway but quite a bit slower in the corner, and that has been interesting,” said 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski. “It’s a nice change of pace. We are all kind of learning together how that will affect the racing. I don’t think anyone will have an answer until they drop the green flag on Sunday.
“I really feel good about it. It’s fun to drive. You enter the corner at almost 220 miles-an-hour, and you turn left, and the front goes, and the back doesn’t always go with it. That’s quite a feeling, for sure.”
NASCAR first employed this aerodynamic package in the May 21 Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. The package—which features a smaller spoiler, smaller splitter side pieces and tapered rear deck lid fin, along with the elimination of rear-end skew—also will be used in the July 9 event at newly repaved Kentucky Speedway. Ultimately, these races will help NASCAR solidify its rules for 2017.
“This is just another step toward creating closer competition and great racing that the fans and the media and everybody wants to see,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “We want to see that really bad, and I think this direction has been something that’s been embraced by the drivers.
“And actually, we’ve worked together with them to land here and try this for this year as a potential way to move forward with closer competition.”
NASCAR, RISE Announce Campaign To Promote Sports Equality
NASCAR and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) announced on Friday a new campaign to promote diversity, inclusion and equality within and outside of sports.
A public service announcement (PSA) featuring NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson and Darrell Wallace, Jr. encourages fans to take the pledge to end racism at RISEtoWin.org.
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The PSA will air during NASCAR national series races this weekend on Fox Sports 1, culminating with Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 Sprint Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway.
“This is important for me to be a part of, mainly because the NASCAR diversity program meant so much for me to get where I am at today,” Almirola said on Friday at Michigan International Speedway. “In sport and in life, everyone needs some sort of break to make it where they are at today. For me, that was my break, the fact that Joe Gibbs Racing and Reggie White along with NASCAR got involved and created a diversity program.
“I sent in a resume, and because of the fact that my family was from Cuba—and my background and heritage—it gave me an opportunity, and that was the opportunity that got me to move from Florida to North Carolina and go drive a race car for a living. To have that opportunity has been very special and very meaningful for my career.”
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France is a founding board member of RISE, an organization created by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
Groundhog Day Comes Late To Michigan
An unexpected interloper delayed Friday’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series practice for 10 minutes.
The sudden appearance of a groundhog on the race track forced officials to halt the session while track workers at MIS attempted to capture the misplaced critter.
At first, a small plastic trash can was used to corral the groundhog, but the animal escaped and scurried away, eluding pursuers. Finally, track workers resorted to a larger trash can to catch the groundhog and remove it from the asphalt.
MIS officials announced the groundhog had been taken to a 65-acre tract of land owned by the Speedway and known as the Phelps property.
There was no confirmation that the groundhog had seen his shadow during the on-track excursion.
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