NSCS: Kyle Larson Leads Friday Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Perhaps this is the weekend that Kyle Larson breaks through and scores his first career victory.

Larson would lead the only practice for the Sprint Cup Series on Friday afternoon, posting a quick time of 28.740 seconds. Larson is hoping to carry the momentum forward this weekend after finishing seventh in points last weekend at Daytona, and has posted a single top-10 at Atlanta in a pair of starts. This year, though, marks Larson’s first season working with Chad Johnston as a crew chief. Johnston joined the organization after working with Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing this year.

Past Atlanta race winner Kasey Kahne was second quickest, followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon.

While previous experience helps, all the teams are dealing with a new challenge this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway as the low down-force package makes its third appearance, following a pair of races (Kentucky and Darlington) last year.

Per NASCAR here is the lowdown on the new package:

Lowering the downforce on a car makes it harder to drive, which puts more emphasis on driver skill and increases the potential for more passing.

 Changes to the car for this season’s aero package include reductions to:

–          Spoiler – 2015: 6” tall, 2016: 3.5” tall

o   Air coming over the top of the car hits the spoiler, which pushes the back of the car down. A shorter spoiler creates less downforce than a taller spoiler.

–          Splitter – 2015: 2” overhang, 2016: .25” overhang

o   The splitter “splits” air and forces it to accelerate under the car, creating a high-pressure zone above the splitter and a low-pressure zone underneath that sucks the car down. Shortening the splitter reduces downforce.

–          Radiator Pan – 2015: 38” wide, 2016: 33” wide

o   The radiator pan is a flat panel that extends behind the splitter and under the car, deflecting air to create more downforce. A narrower panel is less effective in deflecting air, which slows airflow and creates less downforce.