Changes for restrictor plate racing at preseason testing

UPDATE NASCAR has issued a new technical bulletin to its Sprint Cup teams, detailing major changes to cooling systems for 2012 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway in an effort to better regulate tandem drafting. According to Chris Paulson, president and owner of C&R Racing Inc. — which manufactures nearly all of the radiators used in NASCAR's premier series — the sanctioning body will be significantly reducing the size of the radiators and changing the location of the grille openings before the cars return for Daytona testing in January. "Sprint Cup Series director John Darby is implementing a two-gallon maximum radiator size," Paulson said.

"So in other words, the big, huge five-gallon radiators everybody's running will be down to two. And that accumulator can was a one-gallon max volume. It's going down to a half-gallon-sized can." The idea is to make the cooling systems less efficient, Paulson said, forcing the cars to run in open air to keep water temperatures down.

"We'll probably see some result from that, but it's not going to be huge, mainly because they've got these things figured out now," Paulson said. "But it's still going to have an effect. The bigger effect is going to be moving the grille opening up to the bumper fascia area. Because now when they're tucked up behind another car, they're really going to kill all the air. So I think they're on the right track with that. They'll get the result that way." NASCAR.com

12/16/11 Preseason Thunder Testing for the Sprint Cup Series is Jan. 12-13-14 at Daytona International Speedway for final preparations for 2012 Speedweeks, in particular, the running of the 54th annual Daytona 500 Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012. Rules package is a result of information gathered during recent tests at Talladega (October) and Daytona (November) the new rules package includes

Smaller radiator – Maximum of 2 gallon capacity
Smaller overflow tank – Maximum capacity of Â½ gallon
Radiator inlet is moved up closer into the front center bumper area
Rate reduction in the springs – softer springs
Smaller rear spoiler
Base line restrictor plate of 29/32 inch (1/64 inch larger than plate size for the 2011 Daytona 500) NASCAR PR