Dale Earnhardt Jr. excited about NASCAR’s new Sixth Generation cars – NASCAR news
Earnhardt Jr. who got his first feel of the new Sixth Generation (G6) cars on Wednesday last week in a two-day test in Charlotte was really excited about the cars.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver had never liked the COT cars that were used in NASCAR races from 2008 till 2012. Statistics show that most of Earnhardt’s success came in the pre-COT years. NASCAR’s decision of replacing the COT cars with the new sixth generation
cars for the 2013 season must have come as a relief for the 38-year-old driver.
According to experts, it is highly unlikely for a driver to give positive feedback about a car right away, but that was exactly what Earnhardt Jr. did at the end of Charlotte test. “It’s real early in the game, this is the first time I’ve driven the cars
at all. I’m really impressed. I really like the balance of the car, the downforce seems to be relatively good. The car has driven well for us.”
Earnhardt Jr. seemed well aware of the fact that a single two-day test was not good enough to form an overall perspective about the new cars.
“It’s still early. I’m trying not to get too excited or form too big of an opinion or too solid an opinion of the car. We have got a lot of things to learn about it,” said Earnhardt Jr.
He noted that they still had to put the car through more testing phases, aiming at getting a complete picture of the likes and dislikes of the car. With the next testing opportunity coming up at Charlotte in January next year, (Jan. 10 to Jan. 12), Hendrick
Motorsports aims at doing loads of fine tuning with the cars in order to give their driver a better feel of what he will be driving in the 2013 season.
Having Hendrick Motorsports as his team, Earnhardt Jr. claims to be fortunate in that regard. According to Earnhardt Jr., his spirits will be soaring entering the 2013 season because he has complete confidence in his team, the cars he will be getting to
race on the track and the way those cars will drive.
It may be a little too early to make any predictions about the results of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series but it can be righteously said that the changes, excessive testing, data gathering and analysis will play a key role for any team to do well.
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