{"id":875327,"date":"2026-08-29T03:26:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875327\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T03:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:26:37","slug":"nascar-drivers-head-into-daytona-with-a-new-package-and-no-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875327\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Drivers Head into Daytona with a New Package\u2014and No Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racing a new superspeedway package without any practice in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona has NASCAR Cup drivers concerned because it\u2019s difficult to prepare for the unknown.<\/p>\n

Austin Cindric believes they will take the first Stage, which is 35 laps, to race hard and get a feel for the new package since fuel conservation won\u2019t be an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the way that first Stage plays out is kind of a perfect warm-up, a perfect playground for trying to figure out what we\u2019ve all got,\u201d Cindric says. \u201cI think you\u2019re gonna see the drivers trying to learn what the cars have, what the tires do over the course of a run, what the balance of their car is and what adjustments need to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Dillon agreed with Cindric that there would be \u201ca lot of learning\u201d in the first Stage of the regular season finale because it\u2019s \u201chard to prepare for the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new superspeedway package that NASCAR announced more than a month ago has the car\u2019s rear spoiler being shortened to four inches from seven and the horsepower reduced from 510 to 465. Also, the wide splitter stuffers resemble those used at the intermediate tracks.<\/p>\n

\"AUTO:Icon Sportswire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ty Dillon\u2019s car goes into inspection before qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n

When the new package was announced, NASCAR Event Management President John Probst said simulations showed the package would reduce drag, provide more opportunities for passing without competitors having to rely on fuel-saving strategies to move through the field. He said the new package opened the bubble behind a car \u201cjust a little bit\u201d so the cars couldn\u2019t run nose-to-tail, preventing a car on the outside to move down or a car on the inside to move up.<\/p>\n

The teams have used simulation programs to prepare for the race, but Daniel Suarez noted they\u2019re not always accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe study data. We study information, but\u2026 it has happened several times in the past where we study all these different things and then sometimes the numbers, the data, doesn\u2019t match exactly with real life,\u201d Suarez says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great group of engineers that have worked very hard during the week to try and prepare as much adjustability on the car as possible, to be prepared for any scenarios, but the reality is that we don\u2019t really know. We don\u2019t know if it\u2019s gonna be a super tight pack or everyone is gonna be spread out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon agreed with Suarez.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2026 look at data in different things that the computers tell you, but you really don\u2019t know until you get here,\u201d Dillon commented.<\/p>\n

\"NASCARChris Graythen\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Austin Hill.<\/p>\n

Austin Hill said no practice before the race concerned him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different agendas,\u201d Hill said. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have guys that are fully trimmed out for just straight raw speed, and you\u2019re gonna have guys that are full downforce and won\u2019t have a lot of balance in their car. We\u2019re not gonna know until that green flag drops on Saturday night on what\u2019s gonna be the right case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin said there \u201cprobably\u201d should have been a practice with the new package even though it would have been in \u201creally small packs, kind of, with our manufacturers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the pack will have a vibe to it that will play off of how comfortable everyone feels in the car, around other cars,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cSo, I think that the intensity level of the actual race is gonna be dependent on that comfort level.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com<\/a>, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association\u2019s sports feature category.\u00a0 During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication\u2019s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Racing a new superspeedway package without any practice in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona has NASCAR…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,303606,784,237154,1642,634,303605,273948,82,183339],"class_list":["post-875327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-4dbdf8f2-4982-4729-a514-183d0d1569ba","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-nascar-drivers-get-a-new-package-and-no-practice","tag-sponsored-false","tag-sports","tag-subsection-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}