Within the Nextel Cup season there are 4 restrictor plate races. Two of them are raced at Daytona, and two of them at Talladega. These races are high profile, high speed, and come along with a high price tag. Restrictor plate cars are the most expensive cars in the teams garage. Thousands of man-hours are put into the aerodynamics, the engines, the set ups, the safety, even the paint schemes. Some drivers love racing the superspeedways, others despise it. The fear of the BIG ONE can keep even the most experienced driver up at night. The fans are the true winners.

 

The simple reason why we race with restrictor plates is safety. With the high banking and long open runs on both of these tracks, the cars must be limited in horsepower and high end speed. A metal plate with small-calculated holes is placed over the air intake of the engine, suffocating the normal 850 horsepower in half. This drastically drags down the acceleration and top speed of these cars. (Top speeds will be around 200mph.) Since most of these races are ran with the throttle completely open at all times, the level of danger is incredible. Even with the restrictor plates in place, the big one is hardly ever avoided.

 

What plagues these restrictor plate races are the huge wrecks. The term is used an average of 300 times per race telecast. Avoiding the Big One is on everyone's game plan. While most every track has multiple wrecks every race, the superspeedways are notorious for at least one big one. Since all the engines are handicapped with limited horsepower, they mostly race all in giant groups. A single lapse of concentration can result in a 10 plus car wreck. You don't want to be the one to cause the Big One, and you don't want to be racing anywhere near it when it happens. And it always happens!

 

Although experience makes a huge advantage on these superspeedways, it has more to do with the car. As far as who has an advantage, it comes down to which team has the most money behind the design, most time in the wind tunnel, and the best front end set-up. Engines can be tweaked to gain a few extra horsepower, but aerodynamics rule the track.

 

Drafting is the game plan here. Cars will drive within less then an inch of each others bumpers, avoiding air drag and resulting in making the group of cars drive faster. Teammates make a huge difference, and friends can be a factor as well. Look for the other drivers to be watching for one of the faster cars to hitch up to. Drafting is a must at these tracks, but is also the biggest factor of the wrecks.

 

The Pepsi 400 is an impound race this weekend. What that means is that teams will have to set up their cars for racing conditions while they are qualifying. Most cars are set up differently for qualifying then race day. And this week they will be qualifying in the sun, and racing a cooler track the next night. (With so many races going on this week leading up to the Cup, the extra rubber left on the track will be a factor as well.) During impound races, cars are locked away after qualifying and are not permitted to be worked on before the race starts. If teams choose to work on their cars between qualifying and the drop of the green flag, they are penalized to start the race from the back of the field.

 

It all comes down to teams in Daytona. Teammates race together, helping each other in the draft. They all share information, set ups, and experience. Chevrolet is the current king of the track as far as manufactures. Tony Stewart won this race last year, and lead all but 9 laps. Jimmy Johnson won the Daytona 500 earlier this year, but he won't be using the same car. The #48 car that he won with is currently on display at the track.