Roger Penske discusses the Talladega aero package

The Team Penske owner doesn’t want to see wholesale changes when they return to Talladega, due to the costs

NASCAR brought a new aero package to Talladega Superspeedway. The rules package made it’s debut at Daytona International Speedway back in February.

The rear ride height was removed. This brought the rear bumpers all the way to the edge of the race track.

In addition, the speeds were a little too high for NASCAR’s comfort level following MENCS practice. They rectified that with a restrictor plate change that was put in place ahead of qualifying. That restrictor plate reduced the speed as it took about 12hp away from all cars.

What did you think of the package?

I think there’s a lot of thought, a lot of intelligence in those guys that are out there on this race track,” NASCAR team owner Roger Penske says in the media center.

“They know that you don’t race until the end. Maybe at the end of the stages. I think there’s discipline within the teams and even the drivers themselves. Even the younger drivers that haven’t driven here.”

“I kinda like when the cars — You don’t just go out there and stand on the gas and run around all day. It puts the real drivers in the driver’s seat. The one’s who have experience. I think you say that [at Talladega] with who was running up front most of the time.”

“Look, I thought it was a good show. We’ve had wrecks here before. That’s not the first one they’ve had at Talladega. I’m not sure what caused that. Again, it’s Talladega, close racing, you’re gonna have that.”

“Was it a safe race? I think that the safety that NASCAR has executed in these cars. I saw the wreck of McMurray — Overall, we’ve made a big step forward.”

“Plate racing, people love it. You could see the stands. The number of people that were here. It was a good day for us.”

Joey Logano wins at Talladega Superspeedway
TALLADEGA, AL – APRIL 29: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil/Autotrader Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2018 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Do you think they’ll bring this same package back to Talladega?

“I work within the rules that are given to me. I would be surprised if we made changes from where we are,” Todd Gordon stated in the media center.

“NASCAR does a great job as a sanctioning body of identifying where we need to be. They made a 1/64th of an inch plate change. And they made good decisions on how they could work with the motor manufactures to make sure everybody was happy with that and could accommodate that.”

“Those are tweaks as to where the speed goes. I think we made a safety initiative out of where the package went to. The cars being lower is less likely to get airborne. I know we saw the #1 car get rolled. It’s hard when a car gets t-boned in the side and gets pushed up in the air to not be in the air. There’s just not that much downforce.”

Roger Penske

“I just want to add to that,” Roger Penske joins in. “I think that one of things we’ve done as car owners is really sat down with NASCAR and you know, we talk about costs. We cant be building a new car with new technical specs during the season.”

“We can take a spoiler or maybe a little bit of the horsepower out. But, I would assume that if we’re gonna have a change they’re gonna give a lead time to do that.”

“You know, we gotta go back. We gotta go to the wind tunnel. We gotta build cars. We don’t need to have that kinda expense in the middle of the season.”

Joey Logano snapped a losing streak that lasted just over a year on Sunday. He put the Team Penske #2 in victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway.

More

Related: NASCAR issues Talladega rules update ahead of qualifying

Related: All 2018 NASCAR rule changes

Links

Team Penske | Joey LoganoTalladega Superspeedway | NASCAR

Categories

Tags