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Daytona International Speedway is the super bowl of stock car racing and everyone spends the entire winter preparing for this race. Thousands of hours are put into testing and gettingready for this single race. Why? To be a part of nascar history and to get a piece of that $1 million purse. Most people think that speed is all you need when you are setting up for a race here at Daytona. And that is true to a degree, because you need speed for qualifying here. But more importantly you need a car that runs lean on fuel and that does not eat your tires. Because these restrictor plate races have a tendency to go green for long periods of time, you need a set-up that will allow you to run as long as the leaders do without having to pit. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your car in qualifying and during the race. Qualifying: (qualifying set-up's should be modifications of your race set-up) gearing-shorten fourth gear by two or three steps. You want to see that red light, light up before you lift off the gas. suspension-softening the rear shocks will move some of the weight forward, helping to compensate for the light load in the gas tank. This will also help keep the spoiler lower and out of the airflow. weight-increase the rear bias and decrease the wedge to make the car loose (remember-loose is fast, and on the verge of out of control!) tires-Inflate the tires to 60psi. The tires will overheat and bulge in the middle but it will give you faster straightaway speed. Race:(ways to conserve gas and tire rubber) draft-try to catch air off of anything moving. This will allow you to to tun faster while conserving gas. The other guys will be doing it, so you should too. If you don't then you will automatically be at a disadvantage. I know this is hard if you have a substantial lead. pit strategy- depending on your track position, pit whenever you get a chance. If you are at the rear of the field then pit every chance you get. If you are at the front then take a monkey see, monkey do aproach. If you are pitting during a caution I would pit on the first lap for tires and fuel and then pit on each lap thereafter for fuel. Every gallon counts. Make sure you don't speed on pit-road and get black flagged. shifting-shift manually. This will allow you to run the car in fourth gear during cautions and on the warm up laps thus saving fuel. tri-oval- if you get a huge lead then one way to save your tires is to lift throught the tri-oval. The tri-oval is where your tires are eaten the most. Every time you hear your tires squeel-traction is being lost. By lifting through the tri-oval you save some tire wear. One word of caution. Do not try to pass through the tri-oval, unless it is the last lap and you have a chance of winning. There is no reason to pass through the tri-oval otherwise. I know it is tempting to try and make the pass, but if you do not have the pass made by the entrance to pit road then lift and fall back in line. Live to fight another day. |
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