Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski (2) and Joey Logano (22) hope to continue the team’s success with the new lower downforce package being used this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Even with the significant unknowns facing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers at Kentucky Speedway, Team Penske figures to have an edge.
Yes, there’s new pavement on the 1.5-mile track. Yes, the racing surface has been reconfigured to create two vastly different sets of corners, in the image of Darlington Raceway.
Yes, Goodyear is providing a different tire from the one used during a recent organization test at the speedway. The change derived from concerns about wear on the outer portion of the dual-zone tire Goodyear originally had planned to use.
Accordingly, Goodyear tabled the dual-zone tire in favor of a more durable single-compound version that is new to the Sprint Cup series.
While teams had to adjust to all those variables during practice on Thursday, the competition package on the cars themselves was familiar, having been used in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte, the June race at Michigan and during the organization test.
And in the two races that featured the lower-downforce configuration that also will also be used in Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Team Penske drivers have excelled.
Joey Logano won both races. Brad Keselowski finished second in the All-Star Race and fourth at Michigan.
So is it a reasonable conclusion that the Penske shop has found an edge with the shorter spoiler and smaller splitter? If that’s the case, Keselowski isn’t saying so.
“I don’t know,” Keselowski demurred before Thursday’s opening practice. “I feel like we’ve been running well, whether it’s low-downforce or not.
“We don’t have as many wins with the other regular low-downforce – we need a better name than low-downforce and lower-downforce – but I feel like the results have been more positive for us. But I don’t feel a real difference in the cars, so I don’t know.”
Of greater concern to the driver of the No. 2 Ford was the way his car might behave in treacherous turns 3 and 4 after the repave.
“In general, the cars at Michigan were really, really loose behind someone,” Keselowski said. “I would expect that to be the same, and I would expect turns 3 and 4 to really, really be a challenge, because it’s such a finesse corner already.
“Then you add the lower-downforce package to it, and it’s really going to be a hold-onto-your-butt corner…”
Keselowski’s words proved prophetic. Early in Thursday’s opening practice, his car slipped in turns 3 and 4 and nicked the outside wall. Fortunately, the damage to the No. 2 car was merely cosmetic.
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Although the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars are markedly different from Sprint Cup cars in terms of their respective rules packages, Austin Dillon feels seat time in Friday night’s Alsco 300 Xfinity race will prove invaluable in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400.
“I definitely do,” said Dillon, who has two victories in four XFINITY starts at the 1.5-mile track. “When you get in a car and can get used to running fast right off the bat… because turn 1 is really fast right now.
“With all that grip (on the repaved surface), you’re carrying a ton of speed and running through the center of the corner with a lot of momentum.
Dillon didn’t participate in the June 13-14 organization test at Kentucky (Paul Menard represented Richard Childress Racing), but he found another way to get a head start on his competition by practicing and running the Xfinity car.
“That will help me once I run that Xfinity car to know what I can do in my Cup car,” Dillon said. “It might take the guys that haven’t seen (the track) or haven’t tested 30 extra minutes or 45 minutes to get comfortable with that corner (turns 3 and 4), where I will be able to go to work and maybe have that 25-to-30 minute advantage on them and hopefully be able to carry that throughout the weekend.
“Definitely hope it’s the advantage I think it is. Not only that – it’s just good for me to be prepared when I get in that Cup car to be ready to go.”
Toyotas On Top In Opening Practice
Led by Carl Edwards, four Toyota drivers topped the speed chart in Thursday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.
Edwards posted a lap at 186.451 mph (28.962 seconds) and was the only driver to break the 29-second barrier on his fastest lap. Kyle Busch, Edwards’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and the defending race winner was second fastest at 186.181 mph (29.004 seconds).
Martin Truex, Jr. (185.217 mph) had the third-quickest lap, followed by Denny Hamlin (185.084 mph).
For Edwards, the opening practice was a learning experience on a repaved, reconfigured race track.
“For us, we scuffed a bunch of tires,” Edwards said. “While we’re doing that, I’m looking at the little nuances of the track, where are the bumps, the grip level, exactly where is the speed. This track is difficult.
“We were talking about the differences between turns 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. It’s a bigger difference than any of the mile-and-a-halfs we go to. It’s huge. Determining how you’re going to balance the car to be aggressive and how loose you need to be here or there, it’s kind of hard to figure it out – but that’s what I was working on.”
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