"We've spent more money on aero and engine development and
chassis development and body construction over the winter,
and over the last 12 months than we have at any time in our
history," Roush said. "We know more good things about our
packages than we ever had. This will be a good year for us,
in terms of winning races and running competitively."We've had three wrecks with Jeff, and last weekend he had a broken valve spring. Our valve springs are run on computer-operated track simulation equipment, and if the wire didn't have an occlusion in it, and if everything worked as it should, the valve springs should go 2-1/2 races. Yet he broke a valve spring. We'll try to see what we can learn from that ... but we've run that batch of springs for a third of last year with no trouble.
"The mechanical thing that happened to Mark and Matt is what should happen if you have a part that winds up being taxed more than it should. It sure looks like we pulled the bottom out of our pistons on both those cars. Those are parts we've never failed before. And the other parts in the same engines don't show any signs of cracks. So we have no clue.
"We have made that part a tick heavier. Yes, we have been making more power, but that's the way parts are sometimes, you find them sometimes out of their envelope. So right now I'm redesigning that piston."
What Roush would like is for NASCAR officials to do some redesign work of their own, on the rules.
"The Dodge engine is a good one, because it is a longer engine with more distance between cylinders, which allows a shorter stroke, which is better for friction and allows larger valves, " Roush said. "So Dodge has the prospect of a lower-friction engine with better volumetric potential in the cylinder head and intake manifold. In addition to that, Dodge has the camshaft closer to the cylinder heads, which allows shorter push rods and less deflection and less weight in the valve train, which makes it easier on valve springs.
"So the Dodge engine has good news, more good news, and yet more good news, in comparison to both the Ford and Chevrolet engines. NASCAR could have limited the bore size and put the Dodge on the same level as the others, but they chose not to do that, my guess is because they wanted to make sure Dodge would have enough to be competitive in spite of their teething problems. So they gave them all that, which is unfortunate for the rest of us.
"On the aero side, the advantage Chrysler had at Daytona was so bad. The Dodge was 50 horsepower better than the Ford in qualifying trim and more than 30 horsepower better than the Ford in race trim. The Ford was also disadvantaged 10 or 12 horsepower to the Chevrolet. So the Ford is really hurting for drag and downforce in relation to what they gave the Dodge.
"I haven't seen the wind-tunnel numbers (for aerodynamic downforce) that they got in the test (Monday) after Atlanta so I can't comment on that. But the downforce thing is huge."
"What got Ford behind on the downforce tracks last year was NASCAR told everybody to submit what they wanted and they kept a car (from each make) and said, 'Shame on you if you didn't ask for what you wanted.' So the Chevrolet guys by this time last year had already been allowed to pull their nose out two inches (for more front downforce, to make the car turn more easily in the corners), and that gives them a bigger envelope to work with."
Roush said Sunday's Chevrolet romp at Atlanta proved it. "The thing that Chevrolet, Richard Childress' car, was doing at Atlanta we simply couldn't do with a Ford," Roush said. "You can't make enough front downforce with a Ford to be able to turn the car down under like the Chevrolet could, not with tires that hot. Neither Dale Jarrett, nor Rusty Wallace nor Jeremy Mayfield nor any of my cars could achieve that.
"Now, whether NASCAR got data off cars (Monday) that would support that contention, I'm not sure (because some teams prefer to take sleek low-drag cars to Atlanta for straightaway speed rather than higher downforce cars for better cornering). But when NASCAR gave the Chevrolets that two inches on the nose, that gave them an advantage that we haven't had a chance to catch up on.
"So I'm pretty disappointed about and pretty down on what our potential is, based on NASCAR's rules. I think they've given the Chrysler too much. And I think they should now give us the same two inches on the nose that they gave the Chevrolets."
