Daytona testing
RPM range may be key to early Toyota edge The current high RPM range allowed by NASCAR may have given Toyota its edge during the past 10 days of Daytona testing.
The Toyota engine is right at its peak at about 8,800 RPM, while Dodges, Chevrolets and Fords are struggling with more RPM than they can effectively use. Ford teams are particularly off. At this top-end RPM, Toyotas have a sizeable horsepower advantage, according to some rival teams.
So, will NASCAR slow the Toyotas for the Daytona 500 with a new rear-end gear?
Probably not. Toyota’s Michael Waltrip ran his fastest lap with the predicted new gear, and Toyota, in fact, has been among those politicking for the change.
Toyota’s top-end RPM edge is nothing new. That was evident early last season.
But, while such a top-end edge might be very good at Daytona and Talladega (where Toyota teams last fall were the class of the field in speed), it isn’t always so good at the tour’s other tracks, where mid-range torque is more critical.
That’s why Joe Gibbs’ engine shop, headed by veteran Mark Cronquist, is working hard to move the Toyota engine torque curve down to mid-range, which would suit driver Tony Stewart’s style.
Last summer, Toyota drivers started complaining about having no engine punch off the corners, and Toyota engine designers began working to improve that. How successful they’ve been may show up at the California and Las Vegas tests later this month.
NASCAR prefers parity and historically has been willing to make rules changes to get it. But will NASCAR move toward slowing the Toyotas or will it bring the other three car manufacturers up to Toyota’s numbers?
One problem for NASCAR is that the full 43-car draft in the Daytona 500 should be much faster than single-car runs or smaller drafts, but it’s all but impossible to get 43 cars out on the track at the same time for any definitive test. The bigger the draft, the faster the speeds.
“We were running 48.50s (seconds a lap, 185.5 mph) in a six-car draft, and a 12-car draft would run 47.50s (189.5 mph),” car owner-engine builder Doug Yates said.
“Last year, we didn’t have a gear rule at Daytona, but they gave us one, with this car, for Talladega last fall (the choice of a 3.64 or a 3.70 ratio),” Yates said. “They felt Daytona would be a little slower so they gave us a little bigger gear rule here (a 3.74 or 3.70).”
The bigger the gear ratio number, the higher the RPM.
“Now they’re thinking about giving us a 3.64 gear, which would make us faster, because it would put us more in the band where our power is,” Yates said.
Steve Hmiel, the technical director at Chip Ganassi’s Dodge operation, said that some teams have tried and are lobbying for a reduced gear ratio.
Chevy’s Todd Berrier, the crew chief for last season’s Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick, said: “NASCAR will probably give us all another gear option.
“The 3.75 gear would be way too much for us in the draft, so I think they need to give a 3.64 option, and make the window a little bigger.
“But Toyota kicked everybody at Talladega, and I don’t think one little gear rule is going to stop them.”
Robbie Loomis, the manager of Petty Enterprises’ two Dodge teams, also doesn’t think that the proposed gear change will slow the Toyotas.
“Right now, if they stay with this gear rule, you could see 9,000 RPM in the race, but I think NASCAR will change the rule to lower it 150 to 200 RPM,” Loomis said. “Last year, with those motors, we weren’t turning much RPM at all, maybe 7,600, 7,700. Now these things are really turning.
“I don’t know what a change might do for the Toyotas, without knowing what their power-curve chart looks like. But what we saw at Talladega last fall they were so strong – that was a great example of a manufacturer jumping in and getting teamwork to get on top of it.”
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)