Goodyear test wraps up at Las Vegas

With the first official opportunity to work on the new lower downforce package, four past NASCAR Sprint Cup champions put the wraps on two days worth of Goodyear tire testing a cool, gray cloud blanket at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kurt Busch (2004), sporting the fire suit of new sponsor Monster Energy, called the changes being made to the car "nothing too dramatic."

"We're trying to find the best possible combination of speed, handling and making the tire durable," Busch said during a lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions on the 1.5-mile oval. "Most importantly, putting together a good product on track so the cars can race side-by-side more easily."

Matt Kenseth (2003) said the test at Las Vegas is only a small part of the work that lies ahead with the Daytona 500 only six weeks away.

"There's so much more that's done these days with computer simulation, the wind tunnel," Kenseth said. "It's nice to run those things at the race track to validate, but everyone's so much smarter with computers and engineering, everything's still going to be pretty close when you get to the track."

Kenseth came away from the Wednesday morning test impressed with the speeds, but cautioned to not read much into them.

"It's surprising how fast it's been, but we didn't do much with in-car stuff, just work on tire combinations," he said.

Six-time Cup champ Jimmie Johnson added that while his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was fast, the lack of tire falloff wasn't due to any issues with the lower downforce that should make the cars more challenging to drive.

"In the Kansas test (last season) with this package, we were able to create a lot of falloff with the tire," Johnson said. "With these cool conditions and the surface still so good, it's tougher to bring the falloff we're looking for. Bottom line...we were really fast."

Brad Keselowski (2012 champ) said last year's success with the low downforce package at Kentucky (6th-place finish) and Darlington (second) gave his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team plenty of reason for optimism heading to Daytona.

"Those were two of our best races last year," Keselowski said. "We're ready to work through the challenges."

In addition to the new downforce package, Ford introduced a new body style for the Fusion that Keselowski and the rest of their drivers will race in 2016. 

For more from the drivers at the Goodyear tire test in Las Vegas, head over to NASCAR Happy Hour or NASCAR History - 2003-current on Facebook. I welcome all followers on Twitter as well @Tomzsports.