During practice in the cool temps the cars could hang with each other much better in the corners and set up the runs down the straights. When it got hot and the guys had to peddle the cars through the corners, handling became so much more of a premium and the field spread out. Those first couple laps when the car is its best they could stay pretty close but the minute one guy had to crack the throttle more than another that was it. These cars are clearly a lot harder to drive in the heat than the old one was. I imagine not have the rear fender work around the tires punching a hole in the air made the draft much less effective as well.

I enjoyed the races the last handful of years for all the passing and ability to get a run on a guy but I also enjoyed this race. As I was talking to my buddy during the race we both were glad that these things are now hard to drive and puts the driver back in control to some extent.

The same thing happened that happened at Fontana a few years ago, just in reverse. At Fontana, the forecast was 100* and they put in downforce level X, but the actual temp was cooler and the X level downforce produced what many thought was one of the best races they'd ever seen. Sunday, they practiced in the cool and could run close together, then race day came and it was much warmer and the aero balance was off on most of their cars and they couldn't really run close together.

Let's see what we've got when we get to Texas.

I would like to see some more horsepower but I really think people need to figure out what they want to see or tone down their expectations. If you want Hanford era racing like the last few years, OK, but if you want lower downforce and more horsepower racing then what we saw Sunday is more like what you're going to see. if you were disappointed in Sunday's race, don't expect to be excited if you get less downforce and more power.