NASCAR met with Sprint Cup competitors after qualifying tonight at Michigan International Speedway. Among the topics to be discussed is what rule package NASCAR will use for the Chase.
This comes after Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that teams would be told within about a week what aero package will be used in the Chase.
NBCSN plans to air O’Donnell’s media session during NASCAR America, which airs from 6:30-8 p.m. ET today.
NASCAR has used a low-downforce package at Kentucky (and it will be used next month at Darlington) and a high-drag package at Indianapolis and this weekend at Michigan, along with the rule package used at the other races this season.
Jeff Gordon said he’s looking forward to the meeting.
“I’m anxious to hear what we’re going to talk about tonight,’' Gordon said. “I would like to have had more race practice (with the high-drag package) before we have that meeting, but I think also we recognize that at Indy it would have been beneficial to communicate right away about what people were feeling with the package and the car.
“I don’t know exactly if that’s what they’re going to talk about or if we’re talking about what they want the package to be for the Chase, for 2016, is it an open discussion where we can talk to Goodyear about some ideas, but I love communicating.
“The best way you can do that is to get a group of people that are really smart in this garage area, engineers, crew chiefs, people who have been working on this program, Goodyear, as well as drivers ... to share those thoughts and ideas.’'