NASCAR’s Chad Little happy with performance of new truck

While the other two series are running the same vehicles as 2013, the trucks have a new body for the 2014 season as NASCAR continues to evolve. The steps that NASCAR took to creating the Gen 6 car for Sprint Cup, as well as the Nationwide Series car were part of the implication in the new truck.

So far, NASCAR’s Managing Director of the Camping World Truck Series Chad Little says that the comments have been positive from drivers.

“I think the drivers don’t feel a lot of difference, if any, between the two models, and they shouldn’t until we get to further in the week and some other tracks,” Little added. “We’re concentrating on some of the new items with the new body and making sure that they’re all in line and consistent with where we need to be for speed and time and cooling, and so far I think we’re on track.  So we’ll listen to what the teams are saying when they come in and continue to do so into the afternoon. “

Little says that as tests continue, they’ll be watching the lap times and temperature the motor is running at to see how the new truck performs, along with driver and team feedback. Little added that they’re not exactly looking for speeds to increase or decrease.

“I would say not necessarily either an increase or a decrease, just making sure everything is in line so that the kind of rpm we’re running, kind of temperatures the engine sees, and what kind of speeds we run, all of that kind of correlates together,” Little explained. “If we saw too much speed or too much temperature then we’d have to make an adjustment.”

One of the new features is you are able to identify the brand more so now by looking at the back of the truck. Little doesn’t seem any problems with bump drafting, as a result, due to teams having to keep certain aspects common.

Defending series champion Matt Crafton said that he thought his truck felt good so far, but that’s always common whne you’re running by yourself. He’s more so concerned about how it feels in a pack.

“I think the biggest thing is when we get them in packs to see how different they’re going to handle,” Crafton said. “It’ll be nice to see how many people will actually get in a fair pack.  There isn’t a whole lot of trucks here right now to get in a fairly big pack.”

Sophomore driver Jeb Burton is excited about it due to the strength of the Turner-Scott Motorsports organization and how they do with development.

“I think it could be an advantage for us,” he commented. “I feel like our guys are working really hard with this new body style in the wind tunnel and testing a lot trying to make it better.  I’m really excited to be back with these guys.  My team is pumped up, we’re ready to go.”