Daytona 500 notebook: Ford teams blast aero disadvantage

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001 | 10:23 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ford teams continued to be up in arms about what they perceived to be an aerodynamic disadvantage going into today's Twin 125 qualifying races for Sunday's Daytona 500.

But NASCAR technical director Gary Nelson said he wouldn't make a decision on any rules changes until he sees how the cars perform in today's races.

Defending Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett, who drives a Ford for Robert Yates Racing, called the situation "frustrating," and pointed out that the Ford teams are in a different predicament than Chevy teams at last year's Daytona 500, when Fords swept the top five spots.

"People say, 'Well, it's no different than the Chevrolet last year,' " Jarrett said. "Last year, Chevrolet built their car; they created their drag problem.

"This is mandated by NASCAR to us, this isn't something that we created. We have a very good car but because of the rules that they have mandated, that puts us at a disadvantage."

Todd Parrott, Jarrett's crew chief, said the solution would be to reduce the width of the Fords' rear spoilers from 59 to 57 inches -- the size being used by Chevy, Pontiac and Dodge.

Ricky Rudd, Jarrett's teammate, agreed.

"A lot of (Ford's aero disadvantage) is strictly dictated by the size of the spoiler that NASCAR has on the Ford," Rudd said. "We have to run a bigger spoiler, therefore we make more drag so we're sort of unfairly penalized."

Jarrett and Ricky Craven were the only two Ford drivers to qualify in the top 10 last Saturday.

"It doesn't do me any good to gripe about it; I'm still learning my racecar," Busch said.

Busch made seven Winston Cup starts last year in the No. 97 Ford.

"I have heard four-wide twice since I have been here," said Stacy Compton, who drives the No. 92 Dodge for Melling Racing. "Four-wide at Daytona isn't good. Four-wide in practice at Daytona really isn't good.

"Sometimes the helmets get put on a little bit too tight and cut the circulation off to the brain, I think. It gets a little crazy sometimes."

Compton said the rules package would eliminate the single-file racing that dominated last year's Daytona 500.

"You're not going to see the cars gets stretched out like you did last year," he said. "It's going to make for some pretty hair-raising racing, no doubt. The new aero package is definitely going to make it a better race."