That's a bit of a turn-up… Chevy says it’s happy

NASCAR introduced the package, including roof slats and a bigger rear spoiler, to 'dirty up' the cars at Talladega and Daytona, the series' two restrictor plate tracks, in an attempt to make over-taking easier. Early impressions say that has worked, but Ford says its Taurus is now at a drag disadvantage, while Gm and the Blue Oval have ganged up on newcomer Dodge, saying it has an aerodynamic advantage and deliberately sand-bagged during winter testing.

Now, Terry Laise of GM has bucked the trend and admitted that Chevrolet is actually happy with its lot.

"The new aero package that NASCAR went to, starting at Talladega last October, kind of equalised the competition a great deal," said Laise. "Up to that point, the Monte Carlo suffered a pretty severe drag disadvantage to all the other cars. We jumped on it as soon as they told us about it with a very heavy development programme, and the car is now competitive."

Laise says he will hold judgement on the Taurus template-based Dodge Intrepid R/T's alleged advantage until after today's (Thursday's) twin 125-mile qualifiers.

"If you look at [Sunday's non-points] Bud Shootout, every brand led except the Dodge," he said. "But some drivers said they didn't think Bill Elliott was trying too hard. But it appears that Dodge has done a very good job on their new car - taking the basic Taurus design and improving on it.

"Qualifying indicates that Dodge is a little bit ahead, and I suspect they are," he added. "But we'll just have to let it play itself out."

NASCAR impounded a car from each marque after Sunday's Shootout for wind tunnel testing, but says it will not contemplate any changes until after the 125-milers.