Elliott against quest for inter-marque parity

Elliott, the 1988 Winston Cup Champion, spoke out after a week in which NASCAR studied the possibility of tweaking its new superspeedway aero package. Wind tunnel tests after last Sunday's Bud Shootout indicated that Ford is at a drag disadvantage, and newcomer Dodge at a drag advantage, relative to benchmarks Chevrolet and Pontiac, but a decision has been deferred until after Sunday's '500'.

"That's one side of this sport that I totally disagree with, sharing wind tunnel numbers and all that stuff," said Elliott. "You work hard to get your advantage and you spend a lot of money to do that.

"For NASCAR to come in and say 'we're going to change this, or we're going to change that...' I've been through a lot of the changes and I don't think that's what makes this sport any healthier. If a guy's got an advantage, good on him - he worked hard to get it. I don't think that somebody coming in and dominating the sport is all wrong.

"What do you do with Tiger Woods? Do you give him a bent club to try to make him lose golf tournaments?" he added. "We worked hard to get to a point where we winning, but eventually change is going to come along as the others work to get better too."

NASCAR's new superspeedway aero package, which made its Daytona debut at this season's Speedweeks, uses a roof slat and a larger rear spoiler to increase drag and make overtaking easier. In Thursday's pair of 125-mile qualifying races, there were 21 lead changes, compared to just one last year. Elliott says the package makes a significant difference to drafting at Daytona.

"They don't have to even get against you to feel the pickup in the race car," he noted. "Once they get within five or six feet behind you, you can feel the acceleration from them actually helping take the air off the rear spoiler for the car to accelerate. Certain cars will help my car better than other cars. Depending on who you're around, it dictates how well you're going to run."

Jerry Nadeau's Chevrolet and John Andretti's Dodge were the first Winston Cup cars to top 190mph in the draft with NASCAR's new high-drag superspeedway aero package. Both men passed the psychological barrier in testing on Friday, with Nadeau running at 190.243mph and Andretti posting a 190.166s average.