Putting all our testing to the test
by Larry McReynolds, Special to ESPN.com Veteran crew chief Larry McReynold's will provide a weekly column on ESPN.com, taking you inside the garage of the Lowe's No. 31 Chevrolet team.
There is lots of anticipation and excitement about the 2000 NASCAR Winston
Cup season because we built a little momentum at the end of last season.
This is my second full year with Mike Skinner and the No. 31 Lowe's Racing
team, but there are still some unknowns with the new Chevrolet Monte Carlo
despite the testing we did during the off-season.
Larry McReynolds has put Mike Skinner's new 2000 Monte Carlo through all the paces leading up to the Daytona 500.
I'm nervous that NASCAR has held this car to a tight window on the aerodynamics side. When I see how the Fords are doing and that the Pontiacs have not had changes made to them, knowing how good they were last season, I'm a little bit nervous.
I think the 2000 Monte Carlo will be a good car, especially with all the
work we've put in. But I'm a little greedy. I'd like to see it a lot better.
For the first year, it should be just as good as what we had last year in
some areas so we should be in pretty good shape with it.
We spent more time in the wind tunnel this year than I can remember ever
spending. That's part of the plus with working with the R.A.D. group. There are six teams involved and every time one of them went to the wind tunnel, we
had the ability to go with it. It's like we had three times the testing time
and that's helped tremendously in the development of the car. Looking at the
times we ran in testing at Atlanta at the end of last season, there's no
question we've come a long way.
Unlike a lot of teams, we elected to use two of our tests at Daytona. We
felt it was important with the new body style.
The actual Chevrolet test was so crowded with every GM team there that it was hard to get clean runs. You would sit on pit road sometimes for 20 minutes waiting to run, so that's another reason we elected to go to the other test -- to get as much time as possible at Daytona. We even did a little drafting during the second test to get a feel for the new car under race conditions.
So far, we've tested the new car at five Winston Cup tracks. We ran Daytona
twice, the NASCAR test at Talladega last fall and the NASCAR test at Homestead last year. And a couple of tests I was excited about and learned a lot from were the Goodyear test at Texas the Monday before the NASCAR banquet and the last test of the '99 season at Atlanta. We took a '99 car and a new car for
the Atlanta test so we were working on the present and the future at the same time.
If there's a concern about the 2000 Monte Carlo, it's that the drag, which
is a big issue at Daytona and Talladega, is a bit high. It's not as good as
it was with the '99 car. The reason for that is that there are no free
lunches in aerodynamics -- we have more downforce with the 2000 car, but that
creates more drag.
Our other big concern will show up at the downforce tracks. There's lots of
rear downforce, but we're a little concerned that there's not enough front
downforce to compliment the rear. That's a concern when we have to open up
the front end grille to cool the car, which reduces front downforce.
As for the Lowe's team, we've had a few changes on the pit crew from last year. We're not totally optimistic, but realistic in that the changes we've made have
been for the better and that's what you try to do when someone leaves. You
have high hopes in that the replacement will be a step up.
We're confident with the way the pit crew has been practicing, but you don't know until that first real pit stop under race conditions. You can practice until there's no more lug nuts or nitrogen left but it's all about them becoming acclimated to one another. But you just don't know until the car hits pit road that
first time.
Our first test is the Bud Shootout. Some of the pressure is off because we're already qualified. This Lowe's team should be proud, because other than Mike's rookie season, we've been in every Shootout.
What I like about it this year is that it gives us a several-day headstart under race conditions at Daytona with this new car. There's a lot of people who don't
like to run the Shootout because it may take away from their 500 effort. But
I'm a firm believer that it's a honor and a big accomplishment to be in it.
You just have to be smart and not let it take away from your 500 effort.
I look forward to bringing you inside the Lowe's garage area each week this
season. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of positive things to write about.
