Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Testing, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
As defending Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray made his first laps on the repaved Daytona International Speedway Wednesday, the newness of it all was mildly overwhelming at first.
"Honestly, from my first 15-lap run in the draft, it took awhile to take it all in and kinda understand what was happening," McMurray said of the first of two days of Goodyear tire tests on the 2.5-mile speedway's new pavement. "When we unloaded, the cars seemed really wide and the track seemed narrow. But, really, after running 20 or 30 laps, it was not scary and was not that big of a deal.
"Today (Thursday), when I got out there, it felt way more comfortable and you kinda learn little tricks and stuff."
What they also learned, McMurray and other drivers said Thursday at a press conference at the speedway, is that because the new surface is so smooth and fast and so much easier to drive, big packs of cars will stay together longer, and that means the chances of big crashes are greater.
"It's gonna be different racing than what we've had in the past," McMurray said. "The cars are going to stay bunched up more. When you're really close together, it increases those chances" of a big crash, McMurray said. "You just gotta hope that you can make it to the end, because the odds [of a crash] are going to be really good, I'd say."
Barring a huge mistake or problem, "you're not going to the lose the draft," said Jeff Burton. "It's going to be big packs all the time. Three-wide is work. Four-wide is a wreck. Because of the mentality of superspeedway racing. there's going to be efforts to go four-wide to pick up positions, and when that starts happening, it's going to be get hairy."
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