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Roush: New Car Not Suited For All

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH - Because teams cannot "tailor" the aerodynamic characteristics of NASCAR's new race car to suit a driver's preferences, fewer drivers are going to feel comfortable driving the car, team owner Jack Roush says.

With the former car, fabricators could mold the front fenders and rear quarterpanels to add or take away downforce. But the shape of the new car is governed by a set of templates that have few tolerances.

While there are some variances in the car's suspension setup and with the angle of the rear wing, the body pieces have fixed shapes.

"There are going to be drivers that would have otherwise prospered that won't be as successful with this car, just because they're not going to be able to get that sufficiently tight feeling getting into the corner," Roush said.

"To make this car turn, you've got to have it loose going into the corner. If you get a driver that can't stand that, he's going to tighten it up mechanically to stop it from being loose-in, and then you cannot turn it coming off. ... "

The book on the new car is that it's best suited to drivers who've driven a variety of cars and/or drivers who are adept at sliding a car through the corners. That would seemingly favor many of NASCAR's elite drivers, including Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.
Hendrick Motorsports won nine of the 16 new car races last year with Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (five wins), Jeff Gordon (three) and Kyle Busch (one), but Hendrick's success was at least partly attributed to the quick start in mastering the car's tendencies.

Edwards, a former open-wheel dirt track racer, led Roush-Fenway Racing's efforts in 2007 with two new-car victories.

"I think the car of tomorrow helps me, personally," Edwards said. "I think anything that makes the car harder to drive ... I enjoy that. I think all the guys that grew up racing cars that were difficult to handle and stuff, it helps them."

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