Package doesn’t deliver

Despite measures, racing about same

NASCAR might need to go back to the drawing board in its quest to create more competitive stock car racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NASCAR officials unveiled a high-drag aero package Sunday in the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard featuring a 9-inch spoiler and other measures intended to slow the cars down and punch a big hole in the air, which officials hoped would create drafting and pack racing.

But the racing didn’t look much different from previous NASCAR races at Indy. With the exception of some wild restarts, the racing was largely single file.

Kyle Busch didn’t have many complaints; he won the race. Other drivers didn’t really see much that they liked. Kevin Harvick called it a “huge science project that probably didn’t really change that much.”

“I think everybody put in a lot of effort to try to really make everything a lot better, spent a lot of money, but I don’t know that we accomplished everything that we were looking to accomplish,” Harvick said.

Brad Keselowski was disappointed the changes weren’t more effective.

“I think we were all expecting there to be more drafting than there was,” Keselowski said. “I don’t think the draft was much different than last year. And the penalty for being behind someone in the corner was more significant.”

Kasey Kahne saw a little gain in terms of being able to close on cars on straightaways.

“You could suck up a little better if there were cars around,” Kahne told USA TODAY Sports. “If there were just two cars, there was no gain there. The problem is you can’t go through the corner behind a car. It makes the inside so preferred, the big spoiler and all that blocking air, you can’t even think about being on someone’s right side — or even a foot to their right side.”

Added Martin Truex Jr., “I thought it was harder to pass than it’s ever been.”

NASCAR is expected to use a similar package when teams run at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 16.