After an afternoon practice flip by Jamie McMurray NASCAR has issued a rules update to reduce horsepower for the Sunday MENCS race at Talladega.
The size of the engine restrictor plate has been reduced from 7/8 of an inch to 55/64th of an inch which should cause a reduction of 12-15 horsepower and a few miles per hour.
Practice speeds were nearly 203 mph in the first practice and McMurray had ran a 203.975 mph lap in the second practice, just a couple of laps before his left rear tire failed causing his accident. Last October, the fastest practice speed was just over 197 mph. Experienced engine builders have said the rule change should not require teams to do very much, if any, reprogramming to the fuel injection mapping.
The GEICO 500 is set to roll off at 2 p.m. EST Sunday on Fox.
