CONCORD, N.C. -- For the second time in the past three races, a new rules package will hit the track.
At Kentucky Speedway, it was a low-downforce package. This time around, a high-drag package is heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"They're going to take some gear out of the car, plus put the big spoiler on there that should slow it way down," Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained. "They're expecting to see like a six-mile-per-hour draft closing distance between the lead car and the following car. So if that's what we have there, it should be pretty wild."
The high-drag package will include a taller, 9-inch spoiler, a 1-inch wickerbill, a 2-inch splitter leading edge and a 43-inch radiator pan.
All of those modifications make for an interesting task for the race shops at Hendrick Motorsports.
“It can be challenging for the guys at the shop to get all of the changes done and get the cars prepared, but at the same time it’s a lot of fun for the engineers and the aero guys to try and get more data to see how that applies to the cars, then for the race engineers to try and build setups around different aero packages," No. 5 team crew chief Keith Rodden said. "It’s a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge."
One of the end goals, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell explained, is to create more passing this weekend at Indianapolis and next month at Michigan International Speedway when the package is raced a second time.
And Rodden doesn't mind the challenge of making sure the No. 5 Chevrolet SS is up to the task.
"I think it kind of spices things up a bit," he said. "It just becomes something that’s different. If someone really hits it right they can have a bit of an advantage, but for the most part everyone got all of the information at the same time and it’s probably going to be a pretty equal playing field among all of the competitors.”
As far as Earnhardt is concerned, the drivers are on board as well.
"This is kind of neat and exciting and unprecedented, really," he said. "This is a big deal, really, to change the whole thing for everybody at this track and then try something so extreme at another track. What they're trying at Michigan and Indy, it's really extreme and should really alter the racing and what it looks like there. What it'll look like, I don't know. But it's not going to be the same.
"Fans are going to tune in to see that -- see whatever it is that happens. That's great."