During the final practice session this afternoon, a number of teams decided to draft in packs of three, four or five cars in preparation for next month's Daytona 500. Two of the Ford drivers who participated were Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Pfizer Taurus, and teammate Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 97 Sharpie/Rubbermaid Taurus. Both gave their impressions on the draft and how the current rules package will impact the race.
KURT BUSCH --97-- Sharpie/Rubbermaid Taurus --
"We wanted to mix it up with some other cars so we could get a judgement off of where we needed to be. All day we tried to get the car up to speed for qualifying trim and it doesn't seem like anything really worked. We modified a couple of things in the rear of the car to try and hide it out of the air, but it's been tough to work on because of the extra height we have on it. It's been a challenge and even though we got up to speed a little bit, we still need two or three-tenths more."
Question:
YOU DIDN'T HAVE BENEFIT OF THIS RULES PACKAGE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, SO HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE LAST YEAR IN THE DRAFT?
Kurt:
"It's really kind of boring. There's no dramatic draft or dramatic wind buffets that move the car around. It's real stable. The rear end kind of jumps around with the springs and shocks that NASCAR mandates, so it's going to be more of streamlined type of race. It's going to be very critical getting in and out of the pits and when you do go to pass somebody, you need to have help and you're gonna need to have a run to clear somebody. You don't want to get stuck next to somebody because the car in front of you will drive away. It's different to say the least and I think it's gonna take a lot more patience to get used to."
MARK MARTIN --6-- Pfizer Taurus --
"We've had a lot more time to sort through a lot of things and we're getting used to each other quite a bit. We did some drafting practice today and that's the great equalizer. That makes you feel a lot better a lot of times if you've got a car that handles real good and keeps up in the draft good. We've got our share of work to do, but we're not in a panic mode. This isn't the only race of the year. We're gonna put all the effort we can into it, but we want to keep our focus on the entire season and not just this one race. I think we've discussed it and decided that we're gonna go back and do the work that we can, but we're not gonna jeopardize the rest of the year by focussing these last three or four weeks solely on Daytona. We've got another test to do and other cars to build."
Question:
WHAT ABOUT THE DRAFT?
Mark:
"We were looking for trends that the car was gonna give us and things we tried to confirm the things that we thought and expected out of the handling of the car. Afterall, if you qualify fifth or 35th, it doesn't really matter because on Thursday when that checkered flag falls at the end of your 125, that's where you're gonna start the 500. If you're not gonna get the pole, and we're certainly not with the kind of speeds we're able to post in qualifying trim, then we need to be getting ready to go racing and that's what we did."
Question:
IS A FIVE-CAR DRAFT REPRESENTATIVE OF WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE IN THE 500 WITH THIS NEW RULES PACKAGE?
Mark:
"I don't think you'll see a five-car pack in the front. You might see one somewhere in the middle of the pack, but I don't think the front pack will get that small. I think today's competition is too tight for that, even though this is going to string the cars out and separate them somewhat. I still expect pretty large packs here."
Question:
WAS IT LIKE 2000 AS FAR AS HANDLING WENT?
Mark:
"It's definitely not as dicey in a five-car pack, but I think when that pack becomes 25 cars or 30 -- which it will -- it will be plenty dicey and there will be plenty of passing going on. There's not a whole lot happening in three, four and five-car packs with this package, whereas there was a little bit happening with the other package. You don't really get the full effect of that thing until you throw 25-30 cars out there in one pack. It's gonna be fine. I believe it will be safer, but it will have its own set of frustrations just like the other package had."
