NASCAR drivers council: No new packages expected for Chase races

Dale Jr.

NASCAR's drivers council held its second meeting Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, with aerodynamic rules packages at upcoming races one of the hot topics. NASCAR will try a lower-downforce package at Kentucky Speedway next week, and Jeff Gordon said a high-downforce package will be used for Indianapolis and Michigan. But NASCAR likely won't change the rules package for any Chase for the Sprint Cup races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

"From what I heard today in our discussion, NASCAR was apprehensive really to use any other package then what we have had all year in the Chase," Earnhardt said. "They would work with the teams and the drivers before making that type of decision. We will go through and see what happens up until the Chase with these different packages they want to try and then maybe come to a decision to change something in the Chase. But until then, nothing in the Chase is really going to change as far as I've been told. I feel comfortable about that."

NASCAR has been trying different rules packages to shake up the often-stale racing at intermediate racetracks. It formed a drivers council in May to get input from the competitors and held an initial meeting with the group at Dover International Speedway. Earnhardt, Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are among the drivers who were elected to the council. "In all the years I've been in the sport, these two meetings that we've had have been some of the highlights of my career," Gordon said. "I think it's huge. … Basically, when you get in that room, you realize that everybody's goal is to just try to do whatever we can to continue to make this sport as great as it has been and possibly even better." USA Today