Race package has many wondering

— -- DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Here's the good thing about the 2015 Sprint Cup rules package: For those who don't like it, it likely will change.

NASCAR hopes to significantly reduce downforce in 2016 but couldn't make a drastic change for 2015 because Goodyear needs time to develop tires that can handle the demands of the package that will require drivers to hustle the loose race cars.

For 2015, NASCAR settled on decreasing the horsepower from about 850-900 hp to 725 hp thanks to a tapered spacer -- a thicker version of a restrictor plate, choking air flow through tapered holes. A variety of changes, including reducing the rear spoiler from 8 inches tall to 6, have reduced downforce by 200-300 pounds to what Brad Keselowski estimates is now 3,300. For 2016, NASCAR could cut another 700 pounds or more, depending on how testing goes over the next few months.

"The new rules package is a step in the right direction," said Michael Waltrip Racing driver Clint Bowyer. "There's no question it is what we all were wanting and asking for [in less downforce]. But it is just a step.

"I don't want to oversell something. I never want to do that. You want to over-deliver. I think it is going to make a difference but only time is going to tell where it is going to make a difference, on what kind of track configuration."

What type of difference?

"I damn sure hope it helps us and hurts them," Bowyer quipped.

The cars are expected to run more like the cars in the Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) Series although the Cup cars will still have about 75 more horsepower and run at a higher RPM. Both Xfinity and trucks have used the tapered spacer for several years. The hope from NASCAR would be that by using significantly less horsepower, it could eventually get to a point where it can mandate engines be used for multiple races in Sprint Cup, just as it does in its developmental series.

But it first must get the horsepower-to-downforce ratio at a more manageable level. Drivers don't expect to go all that much slower with the 2015 package because they ride somewhat comfortably.

"Even though they have less downforce, the downforce to horsepower ratio has increased and in that sense, that takes away a lot of driver technique and a lot of emphasis on pedal transitions and just being a smooth race car driver," said 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski. "That doesn't necessarily play to our strengths and weaknesses."

Keselowski was among the drivers who tested the new package for Goodyear at Las Vegas in January. Don't go to him, though, to ask how the new package will race.

"The cars drive so much different in a race format than they do in a testing format," Keselowski said. "I wish I could really explain to everyone predictions for what the racing will be like. ... But honestly I don't know. We all will find out together when we all put the cars on the track."

Because the teams have had no offseason testing and the aerodynamic package for Daytona is the same restrictor-plate package as last year, most of the Sprint Cup competitors will get their first opportunity to drive the cars with the new horsepower-downforce package starting the Thursday of the Atlanta Motor Speedway race weekend. NASCAR has set aside that Thursday afternoon for an open test.

While the cars will have less horsepower, they will use a lower rear differential gear ratio that NASCAR hopes will have them run at 9,000 RPM, which is about what they were doing in 2014.

"It's not a large change," said four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "The aero change is probably in a range of 10 percent. ... Depending on what Goodyear does with tires, we might be able to bring the speed back.

"Get three or four races in, you'll have a pretty good idea."

In addition to the spoiler change, NASCAR eliminated 50 pounds of ballast in the cars, lowering the overall weight to 3,300 pounds without the driver. NASCAR also decreased the size of the radiator pan from 43 inches wide to 38 inches wide, another move that reduces downforce.

NASCAR hopes the additional rules to reduce downforce for 2016 will be determined by May and possibly even used during the Sprint All-Star Race.

One other change will be the driver adjustable track bar. Previously, teams had to have a crewman change the rear track bar on a pit stop by sticking a wrench through a hole in the rear window. Now, drivers can adjust it. The electrical system will only be able to adjust the track bar on the right side of the car, and drivers can have the switch (there must be a switch, it can't be automated) on the dashboard, steering wheel or even on the seat or the seat leg extensions.

The idea is that a driver could take a car and make it better in the turns during a run. But some drivers are skeptical, figuring that if they make a change, so would the competition.

"You can also get yourself in a heap of trouble by over-thinking it and over-adjusting and not keeping it simple," 2014 Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick said. "We'll go through that stuff in practice and know whether it's working for that particular track and tire and situation for that weekend. If it's something that you feel like is adjustable to a certain point, then these will be your parameters for the race."

Much like a driver adjusting brake bias during a race, it could be one of those things that a driver changes -- and a crew chief gets the blame.

"I thought we were trying to create some environment on the race track, some passing and some differences," Bowyer said. "I hate to be the 'Debbie Downer,' but I think that is doing exactly opposite. If I was the only one with a track bar adjustment and the guy in front of me didn't have one, yes, it would be awesome.

"I could pass a lot of cars. ... I really fear having those adjustments inside the race car is only going to make the racing more even."